Orphaned
by kanameXakari
Summary: When Amu's parents are murdered and she is put in an orphanage she thinks life cant get any worse. Ikuto wants to know where Amu is going with the strange woman and her friends want their best friend back. Amuto.
1. I cant believe they are gone

This is my first fanfic so i hope you like it!  
Disclaimer: I do not own shugo chara!

Amu stood in front of the door. She turned the knob and slowly opened it. She was shocked by the bad smells coming out of the room. She slowly creeped into the room. When she got in there she stood still in shock. Blood. It was everywhere. She looked around but couldn't see anyone.'What happened?' she thought. 'Where is everyone? Where did this blood come from?'

(Flashback)

It was just another boring day. Amu had gone to school and the guardians were finishing their meeting. "Bye Amu-chan!" called her charas. They were going to spend the night at Rima's house. "Have fun you guys!" she called back. Amu waved goodbye to the rest of her friends. She was humming a tune as she slowly walked home, not in too much of a hurry to get there. She got to the front of her house. She opened the door. It was unlocked so her parents had to be home. "I'm home!"Amu called out. No one greeted her. "That's weird." Amu mumbled. She went to the living room door. Amu stood in front of the door…..

(End flashback)

She looked around the room once more to check for any sign of what had happened in that room. Amu started to freak out. She ran out of the living room. "MOM! DAD! AMI!"She cried out. Calling desperately for someone, anyone to answer her calls. She fell to her knees. The tears that she had tried to keep from coming finally broke free and fell down her face. She felt so lonely and frightened. Amu was startled by a loud knock at the front door. She raced to the door and threw it open.

She stared at the uniform in front of her. It took her a few moments to realise who stood before her. "O-officer?" the still dazed amu asked. "Are you Hinamori Amu?" "Yes."She knew what he was going to say but she didn't want to believe it.

"Hi my name is officer Akashi, I have some bad news. We found your family. They were murdered. We found their bodies in an alleyway. I am so sorry to have to tell you this." Amu looked up. He had a very sad look on his face. She just stared at him. "Are you okay?" Amu slid to the floor in a foetal position and started to cry even harder than before. The police officer looked at the girl who had just lost her family. He couldn't imagine what she could be going through right now. "Don't worry Miss Hinamori we will do an investigation into this and find out who killed your family. We also need to find out where they were murdered." The policeman said.

"Th-the living room." She got out through her sobs "What about the living room?" The policeman asked. She couldn't say any more and just pointed to it. The policeman looked at her then went to the living room where she pointed out. She could hear a door opening, then closing. "I will be right back Miss Hinamori." She could hear him go outside and open a car door. She heard talking. It stopped. "I have called the investigation team over. They will come over to see what happened." Amu didn't speak. She didn't want to. What was the point? The officer looked at her. He hadn't been in this situation before and didn't know what to do. "Wouldn't you be more comfortable on the couch?" asked the policeman noticing she was still on the floor.

Amu wordlessly got up and went to sit on the couch. She had stopped crying but she wasn't ready to speak yet. In her mind she repeated the same words over and over. 'They're gone.' She pulled her knees up to her chest and stared into space. She didn't hear the cars pulling into her driveway but was startled by a hand on her shoulder gently shaking her. "The investigators are hear. They are going to go through your house to search for evidence but we need your permission. Is that alright?" Amu just nodded.

She watched as the people rummaged through her house. Officer Akashi would sometimes talk to the investigation team but he always stayed with Amu. She was grateful for this. He seemed to really care while everyone else just went through her house with bored expressions.

~2 hours later~

The investigation team was starting to leave. Amu hadn't moved an inch. She heard them saying to Akashi that her family was no doubt murdered in the living room and that they found a few things that could be analyzed. She hoped that they would find whoever had killed her family and they would get what they deserved. She was watching the people leave when a strange lady came through into the house. Akashi ran over to her and they were discussing something. Akashi didn't seem to like what she was saying but he looked defeated. They both walked over to Amu. "Amu this is Kanoko." Amu noticed he looked uncomfortable and upset. Kanoko then spoke. "I work at the orphanage."

"Orphanage? Why would someo-" realisation dawned on her. Wait. No. She didn't want to go to live at an orphanage. But, where else would she live? She hid her face in her hands. Her life couldn't get any worse. Suddenly Amu felt someone rubbing her back. She looked up to see Akashi smiling at her. "It'll be ok Amu" he smiled. She didn't agree. Kanoko held out her hand. "Come on Amu we need to get to the orphanage." Amu ignored the offered hand and got off the couch and walked outside. Kanoko followed her out. She showed Amu to her car and opened the door for her. Amu got in. "You can come and get some of your stuff tomorrow, but right now it is getting late. I am sorry but you can't take too much. Just clothes and some personal items as well as your school things. You will not be expected to go to school for a little while of course so I will write a note to excuse you for a while." There was no reply. Kanoko sighed. She really couldn't expect much from a girl who's family just died.

Kanoko started driving off. Amu watched as the world passed by outside. It all seemed so normal this morning. Now everything had changed. They were only driving for about half an hour but it seemed like seconds to Amu. Kanoko stopped the car. "Well here we are." She said happily. Amu got out. She had forgotten all about her charas for the moment. She looked at her new permanent home.

~In a park~

"Ikuto I'm bored nya!" called out a little cat chara. Ikuto opened one eye and smirked. Yoru was looking at him with a really sad face. "It's too late to go anywhere right now yoru." Ikuto told his little friend. Yoru began to sulk. Ikuto suddenly had an idea. "Hey yoru. You wanna go somewhere tomorrow?" "Where nya?" Yoru asked curious that Ikuto wanted to do anything. "Just to visit someone." Ikuto said smirking and thinking of a certain little pink head. 'Hmph. He probably means Amu.' Yoru thought. Oh well. He would be doing something and plus he could play tricks on her charas. They were always so fun to pull pranks on. Ikuto was thinking of all the things that he could do to make his little strawberry blush. He quietly chuckled to himself and closed his eyes, ready for another nap. Waiting for tomorrow.

~Rima's house~

Rima was sitting at the table sipping her tea. The charas were in another room playing. Her parents were out for the night. She was thinking of reading one of her gag comics when kusu kusu burst into the room. "RIMA!" called the frantic clown chara. "What is it kusu kusu?" asked Rima worriedly. "Come quick! Somethings happening!" Rima ran after her chara following her into her room. The sight shocked her. "What happened in here!" Rima yelled at kusu kusu. Kusu Kusu just floated down to the three charas on the floor. They were obviously in pain. 'What's going on?' thought Rima. Suddenly the charas eggs appeared and closed around them and they were sealed. "NO!" shouted Rima. Rima was horrified. What was she supposed to do?

How did i do??  
Please R&R!!!constructive criticism and any ideas you have are always helpful!


	2. empty

Hello. I would like to thank everyone who reviewed. I am very happy thank you! Also thanks to anyone who alerted or added it to their favorites or both! Well here is chapter 2!

~Rimas house ~

Rima had spent the night trying to get Ran Miki and Suu out of their eggs but she hadn't had any success. Kusu Kusu was flying around in circles trying to remember if anything unusual happened last night before her friends were sealed in their eggs. Rima decided to call Amu. She got her phone and called Amu's house (a/n: Amu doesn't have a mobile). She heard a loud beep. "The number you have called has been disconnected." Said the voice of the robotic operator. 'Disconnected? Whats going on here?' Thought Rima. 'I have to call the guardians! Something is definitely wrong.'

~Orphanage~

Amu woke up with the sun in her eyes. She groaned and turned over. At first she didn't want to believe yesterday had happened. She opened her eyes. It wasn't her room. Why? Why did she have to wake up? Amu put her arm over eyes. She tried to hold back her tears but it was just too hard. 'They were gone. They weren't coming back. Ever.' She got up, still crying. Her room was small. It was all white and only had a desk, a lamp, a little wardrobe for her clothes a bed and a little chest for her personal items. She didn't like the room but didn't hate it either. She didn't care. Why should she? She didn't care about the room. She didn't care about living in an orphanage anymore. It was all insignificant compared to losing her family.

Amu walked out of her room and into the bathroom down the hall. She washed her face. She stopped crying. That didn't mean she was any less sad. She leaned her back against the door and slid to the floor. She rested her head on her knees. She didn't start crying again. She felt empty inside. She didn't want to do anything. She just wanted to stay there forever.

She had no idea how long she had been there in that position when she was interrupted by someone knocking at the door. She wasn't going to open the door. She wanted to be left alone. "Amu? Is that you in there?" Amu knew it was Kanoko. Didn't mean she would answer. "Can I come in?" asked kanoko. No answer. Kanoko tried the knob. The door opened. Amu had forgotten to lock it. "Good morning!" said Kanoko cheerfully. Amu didn't even look up. There was nothing good about this morning.

"Come on Amu we are going to eat some breakfast and then get your stuff from your house." Kanoko said. Amu looked up. Kanoko was looking at her with a big grin on her face. Amu got up. There was no way she would be left alone until she went with Kanoko. Kanoko showed her to the kitchen. "There are about 20 kids in this orphanage." said Kanoko trying to get Amu to say something. Amu said nothing she wasn't even listening to her. Kanoko sighed. This was getting frustrating. When they got to the orphanage Amu hadn't had any reaction. She hadn't said a word at all to her. Kanoko just showed Amu to her room and left her there after saying goodnight.

Kanoko took Amu to a table in the dining hall and Amu sat down. "Today there is either toast or cereal for breakfast, which one do you want?"Kanoko asked. Amu didn't speak, she just continued looking down gloomily. "I'll just get both and you can eat what you want." said Kanoko a little dispirited. Kanoko ran off to get Amu some breakfast and came back with a bowl of cereal and buttered toast. She placed it in front of Amu. Amu stared at the food for a second then pushed it away. Kanoko sighed. "Please Amu." Kanoko pleaded. "I'm not hungry." Amu said quietly. 'Well at least she said something.' Kanoko thought. "Well then lets get going." Kanoko said. Amu slowly got up and followed Kanoko out the door into the front room.

The front room was like a reception room with a desk and a waiting area. There were rooms connected that were interview rooms for people who wanted to adopt or enter a child into the orphanage. They walked past the desk and waiting area and out the front door. Amu followed Kanoko to her car and hopped in. Amu was desperately hoping that Kanoko wouldn't try talking to her, she really wanted to be left alone. That hope didn't last very long. "So Amu I know you havent been in the orphanage long but how do you like it?" Kanoko turned to Amu to see if she would answer. Amu turned her head away and looked out the window. She looked at her reflection. Amu looked horrible. Her usually lively golden eyes were now lifeless and her bright pink hair had become dull and unhealthy looking. Amu liked the look. She was hoping it would keep people away from her.

"We're here!"Kanoko said. "There are some boxes in your room. You can fill those up but no more. Make sure to pack your clothes and essentials first before you put in any unnecessary things." Amu just walked upstairs to her room without answering. She looked around her room. She wanted to memorize it. She didn't want to ever forget it. She sighed and started packing her clothes and school things in the boxes. There weren't many. There were only 2 medium boxes and 1 small one. Her clothes and school stuff took up most of the medium boxes. She went into her bathroom and got her shampoo, soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, hairbrush and a towel, it filled up the rest o the medium boxes. Now she only had the small box for her personal items. She was looking around thinking what to pack when she spotted something sticking out from under her desk. It was the edge of a photograph. She picked up the photograph. She sat down on her bed and stared it. She felt empty. It was a photo of her family and her when they went on a picnic last month. They had got someone passing by to take a picture of them so they could all be in it. Her parents were smiling and holding hands while Ami was hugging a smiling Amu. Such happy times. Amu couldn't hold back the tears. She stayed sitting on the bed holding the photograph, letting the tears flow freely.

~Ikuto's pov~

"Go away Yoru."I grumbled still half asleep. Can't anyone get a little sleep around here? "But ikuto nya! You promised we would go meet someone today!" Yoru whined at me. What was he talking about? Wait. Now I remember. I planned to spend the day with my little blushing strawberry. I have to stop calling her mine. It's weird. I know I have feelings for her but I don't think I should. She is 12 for god's sake! I'm 17! Besides, It's not like she could ever have feelings for me. I got up out of bed and got dressed. Yoru was distracted by the yarn ball I kept under my bed so he wouldn't bother me all the time. "Come on Yoru it's time to go." I called out. Yoru poked his head out from under the bed. "Yay!"

I chara changed with yoru and leapt out my bedroom window. I started making my way to Amu's house. I couldn't stop the smirk that spread on my face of the thought of making her stutter and blush. I would soon see my little strawberry. I havent seen her in a while I realized. 'How long has it been?' I thought. One month? Two? It seemed liked forever. I suddenly realized that I hadn't heard from Easter in a while. 'Thats….different'. I arrived at Amu's house. "Finally." I jumped onto Amu's balcony like I always do. I looked in to see Amu sitting on the bed facing away from me. I could tell she was looking at something. I slowly opened her balcony door……

I am not very happy with this chapter:( I dont think i did very well. So far there hasn't been much Ikuto or any Amuto but i will definitely have more in the next chapter.

Please R&R!


	3. distraction

Thanks to all my lovely reviewers and alerters/favoriters. I want to apologize for updating so late -bows- I also realized that i didnt do the disclaimer last chapter and to make up for my mistakes and not updating sooner i have got a special guest to do the disclaimer.

Ikuto: yo. kanameXakari does not own Shugo Chara. Can I leave now?

kXa: NEVER! -grabs ikuto tightly- hehe. On with the chapter.

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Ikuto quietly opened the balcony door so Amu wouldn't hear him entering. He slowly got on the bed and made his way over to her. He snuck his arms around her waist and put his mouth to her ear. "Hello Amu." he said breathily. Amu stopped crying. Was everyone out to get her? She didn't want to face Ikuto's teasing right now. Before her family was murdered she had begun to think about how she felt about Ikuto and was beginning to suspect she had feelings for him. Every time he teased her it made her sad because she knew it was just teasing.

Ikuto pulled her into his chest and put his chin on top of her head. 'That's odd.' He thought. 'Normally she would be stuttering and screaming at me and calling me a pervert.' "So you like being in this position then." He said with a smirk. "Get off me." Amu said quietly. "What was that?" asked Ikuto. "I said. Get. Off. Me." Amu said trying to keep her voice steady. "Hmmm. No. I like it here just fine." Ikuto said still smirking. "GET OFF ME YOU BASTARD!" yelled Amu angrily. Ikuto was shocked. She had never yelled like that before. Ikuto let her go and she shot off the bed. She turned around to look at the shocked Ikuto. Ikuto was even more shocked to see her face. Her eyes were all red and puffy from crying and now her eyes had pain and anger in them.

"Amu." Ikuto said quietly trying to calm her down. "What happened?" "JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" Amu shouted. Ikuto wasn't sure what to do so he just looked at her without saying a word. Amu looked straight back at him fuming. After 5 minutes of staring at each other Amu started to calm down. Amu had released some of the emotions inside of her but it wasn't enough. She wanted to scream to cry to punch things but she didn't. She was about to tell Ikuto to leave her alone again when she heard Kanoko yelling from downstairs to hurry up. Amu sighed.

Amu quickly grabbed some photos off her desk and the one she was looking at before and some toys that she remembered Ami had loved and put them in the small box. Ikuto hadn't noticed the boxes at first but now he realized that Amu was packing. "Why are you packing?" Ikuto asked. He was desperate to find out what was happening. "None of your business." Amu replied. "I know something is up can you please just tell me." Ikuto pleaded. Amu stacked the boxes and started pushing them out the door. 'She isn't going to tell me. Well fine then I will find out myself.' Ikuto thought. He went to her balcony and opened the door. He called to yoru who had been sleeping outside in a tree and was oblivious to the situation that had just occurred.

Ikuto noticed a strange car in front of Amus house. A lady he had never seen before came out of the front door of Amus house and put the boxes he had seen in Amus room in the back of the car. 'Whats this?' He thought. He jumped off her balcony and hid in the trees deciding to spy on them. Amu came out of her house and went to Kanokos car. She turned around. She knew she was going to miss the house. She had her last look at the house then got in Kanokos car. Kanoko started driving towards the orphanage. 'Amu looks more lively than she did before.' Thought Kanoko.

The drive was quiet. No one spoke a word. Kanoko was happy that Amu was being more lively and didn't want to push her. They arrived at the orphanage and they picked Amus boxes and took them to her room. She started packing her stuff away. "Right now everyone is at school and the workers are resting downstairs. If you need anything just come get me." Kanoko said before she left Amu alone. When Amu finished packing she lay down on her bed and closed her eyes wishing for something to distract her from the sad memories that kept popping into her head. She got up off her bed to find something to distract her. She didn't have a clue what but she had to find something before the pain in her heart became too much.

Amu walked around the orphanage. She discovered that it was actually quite large. She walked around for about an hour before she ended up back at her room. She stopped walking and looked down the hallway. She saw a pair of large double doors and decided to check it out. She walked down the hallway and to the double doors. She looked around to see if anyone would catch her but then remembered that everyone was at school and the workers were downstairs. Amu turned the knob to the doors and pushed them open. The doors creaked loudly. Amu turned on the light switch and looked around the room. It was big but had little furnishings. It had a dark blue couch and a TV with a DVD player and a stereo. It had a light pink carpet and white walls. Amu noticed glass doors at the other end of the room. She went over to the glass sliding doors and slid them open revealing a balcony that looked like the one she used to have except this one was a bit bigger. There was a little eating table and two chairs but it was otherwise empty. She walked back into the room and looked around once more. She didn't how but she knew that no one had been in this room for a very long time. 'Probably no one knows about it.' Amu thought. 'I won't tell anyone about this room and it will be my own special secret room. Although the giant double doors don't exactly make it inconspicuous.' Amu went to the couch and lay down. It was very cushiony and soft and Amu very quickly and unwillingly fell asleep.

~Ikuto's POV (Back to when Amu arrived at the orphanage)~

I had followed the car Amu had gotten into. The car had pulled up to a large building. I saw Amu and the lady I had never seen before get Amus boxes and enter the building. I got closer to the building. 'Where is this.' I thought. I saw a large sign near the front door and went closer to read it. The sign had a lot of words but only one word stuck out. Orphanage. In big black bold letters. 'What the hell?' I thought. 'What is Amu doing in an orphanage?' I didn't know what to do except find Amu. I was looking around the building to find a way in and then I would find Amu. I saw a balcony three stories up on the back of the building. 'With Yoru that would be no problem.' I thought.

I kept circling the building trying to find another way in. I didn't see any. 'I will have to use the balcony. I hope there isn't anything there that will get me before I see Amu.' I thought. 'I will just have to take that chance though.' "Yoru chara change." I said but there was no reply and nothing happened. I suddenly realized Yoru wasn't with me. I looked around for him and found him in one of the trees at the back of the orphanage near the balcony. He was asleep. I sighed. When Yoru slept it was impossible to wake him up. 'I might as well take a nap myself.' I thought. I laid down under the tree and quickly fell asleep.

~Royal Garden~

"Why did you ask us to come here so quickly for?" asked the girlish blond boy."Yeah you sounded really weird." Said the boy with the long purple hair. Rima had called the guardians and told them all to meet her at the royal garden as soon as possible. She had even called kuukai even though he was in high school and not a guardian anymore. Rima took Amus eggs out of the bag she had around her waist and set them on the table. Everyone looked at the eggs unsure of what she was trying to tell them. Nagehiko suddenly had a though. "Where's Amu?" he asked. "I don't know. I tried to call her home but its been disconnected." Everyone else was confused. "I don't get it whats wrong?" asked tadase. "They are trapped inside and can't get out. Something must have happened to Amu." Yaya. Tadase and kuukai stared at her. "WHAT!" they all shouted.

"WE HAVE TO GO FIND HINAMORI-SAN!" Cried Tadase getting ready to leave. "Wait!" Shouted Nagehiko. "We have to think about this. It could be a trap by Easter. The guardians spent most of the day arguing about whether or not they should go find Amu or not. They finally made an agreement. "Okay so if we havent heard from her by tomorrow we will all meet here and then we will all go to her house. Is that okay with everyone?" Asked Nagehiko tiredly. "Yes." Everyone said with worried faces. They were all worried about their friend.

~Orphanage Later that night, Normal POV~

Amu woke up in an unfamiliar room. 'Where am I?' Amu asked herself. 'Oh that's right. It's my secret room.' Amu had dreamt about her family again. She wanted to find another distraction. She had room helped but know she needed something else. Amu looked out the window and noticed it had gotten dark. 'I hope no one came looking for me.' Amu opened the double doors and peeked out. No one was there. She got out of the room and closed the doors making her way to her bedroom. "AMU!" someone called out from ahead of her. Amu looked up to see Kanoko running for her. "Oh no. Did she see me leave that room? Will she want to know about it?' Amu thought worried that she wouldn't be able to keep her secret room. "Where were you I have been looking for you for hours." Kanoko said. 'I don't think she saw me in the room.' Amu thought. "I was exploring." Lied Amu. "Oh okay, but next time don't go around this late without letting me know. You had me worried." Kanoko said seriously. Amu bowed her head. "Sorry." "That's alright." Kanoko said cheerfully. "But it is 8 o'clock and time for bed." "Okay." Amu said and entered her room with a goodnight hug from Kanoko.

Amu walked over to the desk and picked up a photo frame with a picture of her family inside. She began to walk to her bed when she tripped and fell the photo frame falling to the ground and the glass smashing. Amu got onto her knees and looked at all the glass on her floor. She picked up the photo and slid all the glass off it into a pile and placed the photo on her bed to keep it safe. She began picking up the larger pieces when she suddenly cut her finger very deeply. "FUCK!" Amu shouted and began to suck on her finger. 'Ow ow ow ow ow ow.' Was all that was going through her head at the moment. The pain subsided and Amu felt relieved when she realized something. She stared at the glass on the floor. She knew she shouldn't be thinking this. Pain. It completely distracted her. She looked at the pieces of glass again. She picked up the biggest one. She stared at it. She didn't know what to do. She wanted to be distracted but like this? She didn't realize what she was doing until she heard the creaking of a door. She looked up and saw that she had subconsciously went to the secret room with the piece of glass still in her hand. 'This is the best place to do it.' Amu thought.

She looked around the room to find a good place. She knew that you could cut your wrists anywhere but she felt she had to do it her own way. She looked up and saw the balcony door. She walked across the room and went out onto the balcony and closed the doors. It was a chilly night but Amu didn't notice. Amu sat in the corner and took a deep breath. She was ready. She put the glass in her right hand onto her left wrist and slowly slid the shard of glass into her flesh. The pain was bliss. It demanded all thought and she obeyed. She was about to start sliding it across her wrist

"WHAT THE FUCK!?" She heard someone yell.

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So thats the end of that chapter. I will try to update sooner and more reviews means that is a higher possibility!

So please R&R.


	4. The saddest rumor

Hello. Sorry i am late again. I was banned from the computer for a little while and it sucked, but it gave me more time to work on my story so some good came out of it. Who will do the disclaimer?

Ikuto: I will. kXa does not own Shugo Chara.

kXa:IKUTO!!! Your so nice!!

On with the story!

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~Normal POV~

"WHAT THE FUCK!"

Amu stopped and looked up into piercing blue eyes. Amu was scared. She had been caught. "I-ikuto I-" Before Amu could say any more Ikuto ran up to her and squatted down next to her placing his hands over her hand with the shard of glass in it. He slowly lifting his hands making Amus hand pull out the glass from her wrist. When the glass was fully out of Amus wrist he threw the piece of glass as hard as he could over the balcony. He looked at Amu who was staring down at her bleeding wrist ashamed.

Ikuto felt many different emotions flow through him at that moment. Sadness, confusion, a feeling he didn't quite recognize but mostly anger. 'Why would she do this? What was so bad that it led her to this?' Ikuto thought. "Amu." Ikuto said softly. Amu looked up at him and began to sob loudly. She turned away from Ikuto in embarrassment. Ikuto looked really angry and Amu was upset that she had made him so mad. She was surprised when she felt his hands pulling her into his chest. Her eyes were wide with tears spilling out of them. She felt happy in his arms. She felt safe and not as lonely. She began crying harder and clutched onto his shirt. Ikuto held her tighter. He sensed she needed a release from all the emotions built up inside of her. He held her tighter wanting to make her feel as safe as possible.

Amu realized that she hadn't had anyone's shoulder to cry on. No one to help her ease the pain that ikuto seemed to be sapping away just by holding her. They stayed there with Ikuto holding Amu tightly and her crying into his chest for half an hour before Amus sobs began to subside and she finally stopped crying. She sniffled against his chest and Ikuto waited until she finally stopped. They waited for a few moments in silence before Ikuto put his hands on Amus shoulders and pushed her back so he could look into her golden orbs. "You need to tell me right now." Ikuto said sternly. "What happened? Why are you living in an orphanage? Where is your family? What led you to…..this?" Ikuto asked.

Amu stared straight back at him. After what Ikuto had just done for her the least she could do was give him an explanation. "My family…"Amu started. She realized she had never said it out loud before. Ikuto waited patiently for an answer letting her take her time. "My family was….murdered. I got home from school and no one was answering me and I found the living room covered in blood. A cop showed up at my door a few moments later and told me that my families bodies had been found." Amu felt better now that she had told someone. She felt like weight had been lifted from her shoulders making everything easier to handle. She looked to see Ikutos reaction. He wasn't moving. She tried to read his eyes but didn't see anything.

Ikuto was so shocked by the news that Amus family was dead and that she had even had to see their blood. 'Why her?' Was all he thought. 'Why must she go through so much? Why my Amu? Wait. My Amu? "Ikuto?" Ikuto snapped out of his thoughts to see Amu looking at him worriedly. He had been still for a long time and Amu had started to worry. Ikuto leaned forward and hugged her again. Amu didn't know why Ikuto had suddenly hugged her but she put her arms around him and hugged him back.

Amu shivered finally feeling the chill of the night. "Let's go inside." Ikuto said noticing Amus shiver. Amu nodded and Ikuto picked her up bridal style. Amu was too tired from crying to protest. She put her head against on his shoulder happy to finally have a comforting presence. Ikuto felt a strange emotion stirring in his chest as he carried Amu. It made him feel warm and happy. He opened the balcony doors using his tail and entered Amus secret room, closing the door behind him to keep out the cold. The room was dark but using his cat-like eyes ikuto saw the couch and placed Amu on it. Undoing his chara change he sat down next to Amu.

Ikuto leaned back making himself more comfortable when he felt pressure on his chest. He looked down to see Amu laying her head on his chest using it as a pillow. Her eyelids started to droop. "Thank you Ikuto." Amu said sleepily and fell into a restful sleep. Ikuto watched Amus sleeping face with a small smile. She looked so peaceful. He felt that foreign emotion stir in his chest again. "Goodnight Amu." Ikuto whispered putting his arms around her and closing his eyes.

~Next morning~

Amu woke up feeling much better. She noticed she was leaning on something warm and comfortable. She sat up and looked at her 'cushion'. Amu saw she had been leaning on Ikuto and blushed. Ikuto woke up and opened his eyes to see Amu blushing. He chuckled realizing the reason for the blush. "Embarrassed Amu?" Ikuto said smirking. Amu blushed harder. "T-thank y-you for being there for me last night." Amu said while looking at the floor. Ikuto suddenly turned serious. "I will always be there for you Amu." Ikuto said.

'Why did I say that? I know she is having major troubles but I don't have to always be there for her. But why do I want to? Why do I feel like I have to protect her from everything? Why do I feel like hugging her when she looks sad, when she is having trouble, when she looks lonely? Why do I feel so protective of her? What, what is this feeling?' Ikuto was troubled by these thoughts. He wanted to figure it out. This completely new feeling.

"Do you have anywhere to go to today?" Amu asked disturbing Ikuto out of his thoughts. "Nope.I have the whole day to myself" Ikuto replied. Amu looked down finding the floor very interesting. "W-would you s-stay with me?" Amu stuttered. Ikuto smirked again. "Sure Amu. Now that I know you like me so much." Ikuto said. "T-thanks." Amu replied. Amu suddenly realized something. She ran to the doors and peeked out of them. She saw Kanoko knocking on her bedroom door. "Crap. Ikuto I will be back in a minute. Don't make a sound okay?" Amu said looking at Ikuto making sure he would agree. Ikuto nodded and Amu silently crept out of the room. She closed the doors behind her so it wouldn't look like she had come from there.

She looked at Kanoko to make sure she hadn't seen her leave the room. Kanoko was still knocking and was about to open her bedroom door. "Kanoko!" Amu shouted while making her way towards the startled worker. Kanoko let go of the handle of the door and looked at Amu coming down the hallway. "Why are you over there?" Asked Kanoko. "Oh. U-ummm. I went to the bathroom." lied Amu. "Oh. Alright then." Said Kanoko believing the lie. "I just came to wake you up. Do you want any breakfast?" Asked Kanoko hopefully. "No. I am not hungry right now. But maybe lunch?" Said Amu. Kanoko perked up at Amu saying she might actually want to eat something. "Okay!" Kanoko said cheerfully. "You have another day to do whatever you want. But…please think about school again." Kanoko pleaded. "Okay. I will." Said Amu. Kanoko smiled.

Amu started walking away. "AMU!" She heard from behind her. She turned around. "You look a lot better today." Kanoko said after noticing that Amu had some more color in her cheeks and her eyes had some life in them. "Um. Thanks." Replied Amu. Amu waited until Kanoko turned a corner before she entered the secret room again. "What was all that secretiveness about?" Asked Ikuto. "That's right you don't know. This is my secret room. I made it mine and nobody knows about it." Explained Amu.

Ikuto yawned. Even after all that rest he was still tired. Amu walked back over to the couch and sat back down. She leaned against the armrest and closed her eyes. Ikuto leaned against the other armrest and copying Amu also closed his eyes. Without realizing it they both fell asleep.

~Royal Garden~

"Okay everyone. Has anyone had any contact from Amu?" asked Nagehiko once everyone had arrived. Everyone looked at each other hoping someone had heard from their friend but no one spoke up. "Alright then lets go to her house." Nagehiko said. Rima looked at the floor with tears in her eyes. "Rima." Rima looked up to see Nagehiko waiting for her at the gardens entrance. "Amu is fine. I just know it. There is no need to worry." Nagehiko told Rima reassuringly. Rima smiled at him and they went out to catch up to the others.

The group arrived at Amus house. Their eyes widened. In front of them was Amus house closed of with police tape and policemen swarming the house inside and out. "Wow. So the rumors were true." Everyone turned around to see two young boys standing behind them and staring at the house. "What rumors?" Asked Nagehiko. "You don't know?" Said the first boy with brown hair. "The family living in that house was murdered." Said the other boy with black hair.

Everyone was frozen with shock their mouths hanging open. They couldn't believe what they had just heard. The two boys were surprised by the reactions of the group of strangers. They began walking away. "I heard that the oldest girl wasn't there at the time so she is still alive." Said the brown haired boy too far away for the group to hear the conversation. "Whoops. Guess I told them they all died. Oh well. Doesn't matter." The black haired boy said and they kept walking away.

"A-Amu is dead?" said tadase finally recovering a little from the shocking news and burst into tears.

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Ikuto: What a crybaby

Tadase:Shut up! Thats not true I never cry!!

Everyone:Sure Sure

Ikuto: R&R


	5. Ikutos suspicion

YAY! I finally got this chapter up!!

Ikuto: Bout time  
kXa: Shut up. No one asked you  
Ikuto" Psh. Fine i am leaving then  
kXa: No dont go! I need you  
Ikuto" 'smirk'  
kXa: 'faints'  
Ikuto: kXa does not own shugo chara

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~Normal POV~

Everyone heard Tadase crying and their bodies started to work again. "Yaya doesn't want Amu-chi to be dead!" Yaya shouted and then fell to the ground crying. Kuukai bent down next to Yaya and put his hand on her shoulder, His eyes closed tightly trying to hold back his own tears. "Y-you said Amu was going to be just fine!" Rima shouted at Nagehiko who was still in too much shock to do anything. He looked at Rima who looked sad and angry at the same time. Her eyes eyes filled up and tears slid down her face. She turned around and started running away. She ran as fast as she could all the way home stormed to her room and began crying into her pillow.

The rest of the group began calming down. Yaya and Tadase stopped crying. Kuukai helped Yaya get up off the ground. Nagehiko was still staring at the direction Rima had left. Everyone looked at each other. "What are we going to do?" Asked Tadase. "I-I don't know." Answered Nagehiko. "It's just so hard to believe." Said Kuukai. "I think I need to be alone right now." Said Nagehiko and began to run home. The rest of the group looked at one another and without a word they separated and started making their way home to mourn the loss of their friend.

~Secret Room~

Amu woke up in an uncomfortable position feeling stiff and sore. She checked her watch. It was 11:30. She looked over to see Ikuto was still sleeping. She had dreamt about her family again and was feeling depressed but she didn't want to wake him up. Her stomach began growling making her realize that she was hungry. She quietly crossed the room and walked out. She slowly closed the door and made her way downstairs. She saw a door labeled 'staff room' and knocked on it. The door opened to reveal Kanoko standing there. "What is it Amu?" asked Kanoko. Amu was about to say she was hungry when her stomach growled loudly. Kanoko looked shocked for a moment then started laughing. "Hungry Amu?" Amu looked at the floor embarrassed.

They made their way to the kitchen with Kanoko practically jumping for joy. They entered the dining hall and Kanoko gestured to one of the tables for Amu to sit down at. Kanoko went into the kitchen and soon came back out with some sandwiches. She placed the sandwiches in front of Amu. Amu began to quickly eat the sandwiches due to her hunger. Kanoko watched Amu eat happy that she finally was eating something and seemed to be feeling better.

"Um. Kanoko?" Amu said slowly. "Yes amu?" asked Kanoko. "I've thought about it and….I want to go to school soon." Amu looked at Kanoko wondering what her reaction would be. Kanoko looked surprised for a moment then jumped up from her seat and hugged Amu."Yay Amu! I am so happy! Today is Friday so we will have to have you go to school on Monday. I am going to re-enroll you now! Are you ready to go on Monday?" Kanoko said excitedly. Amu nodded. Kanoko ran quickly back to the staffroom to re-enroll Amu in school. Amu finished her sandwiches. She went back to her secret room to find that ikuto was missing. She saw a piece of paper on the couch and picked it up. She read

Dear Amu

I am sorry I didn't wait for you to come back. I got hungry and Yoru was complaining and so I went to get something to eat. I am going to spend the day at the park. If you need me you will find me there.

You know you will miss me,

Ikuto

Amu felt slightly disappointed. She wanted to spend the day with Ikuto Amu was bored and wanted to do something. She looked around her secret room but there wasn't anything that caught her attention. She went to the bathroom to see if there was anything interesting in there. She looked in the cupboards and there she saw it. Amu picked up the box of hair dye. She turned the box around to see what color it was. It was black. Amu thought about it. "Perfect." Amu decided. Amu thought it would be a nice change. She opened the box and got to work.

~Rima's POV~

I had just stopped crying. No more tears left. Amu was dead. My heart ached. MY best friend, Amu will never say hi again. Will never comfort me. Will never go shopping with me. I will never see her smiling again. 'I have to stop thinking like that.' My mom was knocking at my bedroom door. Probably worried at how I had burst through the door crying my eyes out and stormed to my room and slammed the door. "Rima? Are you alright?" I heard my mom call. 'Oh now she is paying attention. Now she cares. It's a bit too late to start caring now.' I heard my mom finally give up when I didn't answer her. "Rima." I heard the worried voice from above me. I looked up at Kusu Kusu. "What is it?" I knew I sounded mean but I didn't care at the moment. "I know Amu is dead but she wouldn't want you to be sad. She would want you to live your life and be happy. I knew Kusu Kusu was just trying to cheer me up. It worked a little. I realized she was right. I couldn't be happy but I could pretend

~Tadase POV~

'She's dead.' I couldn't stop thinking that. I hadn't come out of my room since I got home. Still curled in a ball, the thought wouldn't leave me alone. Kiseki was hovering worriedly above me. I know he wanted to do something to help me but I don't think anyone could. It was just too hard to believe. I uncurled from my ball and went over to my desk. I opened the droor with my secret photo collection of Amu. I know some people would call it stalking but I don't care. I have been taking secret pictures of her ever since she joined the guardians. I spread them over my desk looking at her smiling face. I started crying again. The smile I would never see again. I layed my head down on the pile of secret photos. The tears flowing down my face. I saw Kiseki flying around unsure what to do. I could feel sleep creeping up on me, the crying making me tired. I closed my eyes and let the sleep wash over me escaping into my dreams.

~Yaya's POV~

I stared at the cookie in my hand. I dropped it on the table. I couldn't eat it. I was trying to act normal. I felt that if I didn't I would break down but it was hard. I looked at the cookie lying uneaten on the table trying hard not to think of what had happened. I heard the dorbell ring and realized that no one was home but me. I got up to answer the door. I was surprised to see Kuukai standing there. He had a lost look in his eyes like he wasn't sure what to do. I suddenly felt like crying. Like letting it all out. Kuukai looked me in the eyes and I put jumped at him and put my arms around him. I couldn't hold it in any longer and I began to cry into his chest. I felt him put his arms around me and put his face on top of my head. My hair was getting damp with his tears but I didn't mind. I always felt more comforted when he was around. "Yaya" I heard him whisper. I started sniffling. My tears had run out. "Yaya..." I heard him start. He sounded hesitant. "I love you."

~Kuukai POV~

I started to walk home but I didn't feel like facing my family in this state. I needed some comfort. I needed to be with the girl I loved. The girl I have loved for a long time now. I began walking to Yaya's house. Amus death made me think about my life and how short it can be. It made me think of all the times I wanted to tell Yaya my feelings but was too scared to. It was scary to think that I would never see Amu again. I never imagined something like this would ever happen. The sadness that swept over me was overwhelming. I arrived at Yayas house and rang the doorbell. It took a while before I finally saw Yaya open the door. She looked surprised to see me. She wasn't saying anything. I looked into her eyes when she suddenly hugged me and began to cry into my chest. I put my arms around her and put my head in her hair. It all became too much and I began to cry making her hair wet. I suddenly had the urge to tell her my feelings. I just had to. Right now when life seemed so precious. I just had to let her know. "Yaya" I whispered her name. I heard her stop crying. She was sniffling against my chest. It felt so nice just to hold her. "Yaya…"I was hesitant. I didn't want to be rejected. "I love you." I finally said it. It was off my chest. Now I just had to wait for the answer.

~Ikutos POV~

I found a nice little café that was serving breakfast for me to eat at. I sat down at an outside table and ordered an omelet. The weather was perfect. It was sunny but not too hot. I thought about Amu. I couldn't believe that her family was dead. I can't imagine what she is going through. My omelet came and I cut off a bit for yoru who happily dug in. I ate the rest off the omelet and sat back feeling full. 'Why must my Amu go through this?' I realized I had said my amu again. 'Why do I always say that?' I was feeling frustrated. I wanted to know what this feeling was. I felt it whenever I was near amu and when I thought about her, which was most of the time. I felt kind of bad for leaving amu alone today. Before I go to the park I decided that even though I don't mind Easter not calling me to make me do something for them something feels wrong. I had this nagging feeling that they were up to something. "C'mon yoru lets go." "Okay-nya." I paid for my meal then went to leave the café when I saw him. Why was he here?

~Nagehikos POV~

I hadn't made it home. I knew that if I did go I would be fussed over. I was laying on the grass staring up at the sky. I was remembering all the time amu and I had together, as the normal me and nadeshiko. I still hadn't told her that I was nadeshiko and I wished I had because it was too late now and she would never know. I felt restless and decided to take a walk. I walked aimlessly around town. I wasn't paying any attention to where I was going.  
I looked up after about an hour of wandering to see where I was. I saw Ikuto just coming out of a café and I realized that he didn't know. Tadase may have something against him but I did not. I knew I had to tell him because although most people may not notice I knew that ikuto had feelings for amu even though he may not yet know it himself. He noticed me and looked confused. I walked up to him. "Ikuto. This is going to be shocking for you…but…Amu is dead. Her and her family were murdered." I was glad I could say it. I wasn't sure if I could have. Ikuto looked shocked. "What? But. Amu is…" He trailed off. He got this weird look on his face before he took off running. "Ikuto wait for me-nya!" I heard his chara call out after him. I felt sorry for him. Amu was my best friend and I was crushed that she was dead but it was obvious Ikuto loved her and the news would hit him hard. I sighed. I would have to go home sometime. Might as well be now. I started heading home trying to compose myself so my mom wouldn't be too worried.

~Unknown POV~

"Was the job done? Is the Hinamori girl and her family dead?" The boss asked the man in front of him. "I have killed her family but the girl was not home." Replied the lackey. "Dammit!" The boss shouted and slammed his fist against the table. "We will get her. You are going down Hinamori Amu!"

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Phew. That chapters done. Personally i like kuukaiXutau better but i dont mind kuukaiXyaya. Plus i am a lazy person and didnt want to add another POV. Please RxR! Reviews make me happy ^^


	6. meet the orphans

Finally chapter six and i started chapter seven so i should update A LOT quicker than i have been.

I need to thank heather and sarahh.x for letting me use their characters^^ And of course a big thanks to the reviewers and alerters.  
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~Normal POV~

Ikuto having heard that Amus friends thought she was dead was quickly making his way to the orphanage to tell Amu. Ikuto knew that she wasn't dead but why did her friends think that she was? 'What will Amu think when she hears her friends think she is dead?' Ikuto thought. Ikuto arrived at the orphanage chara changed with yoru and leapt onto the balcony to Amus secret room. He saw that no one was there and so he lay on the couch waiting for Amu to return. Not too long after he heard the door opening. He sat up and saw someone with black hair closing the doors, their back facing him. "Amu?" Ikuto asked confused. The person stiffened. "Crap." Amu said.

~Amu POV~

I read the directions on the box of the dye. 'I hope they don't mind if I use their hair dye, who's ever it is.' I finished putting on the dye and took a shower to wash out all the extra color and chemicals. I dried my hair and got dressed. I looked in the mirror. It looked good. Or at least I thought it did. I exited the bathroom with my new look and ran to the secret room. I went in and was closing the door when I heard a confused "Amu?" coming from behind me. I didn't have to look to know who it was. "Crap." I said. I totally forgot about Ikuto. 'What is he gonna think?'

~Normal POV~

Amu turned around to face Ikuto who was sitting fully at attention on the couch. When Ikuto saw the stranger was indeed actually Amu he was shocked but didn't let his face show it. "What did you do to your hair?" Ikuto asked. Amu looked away and put her hand behind her head. She missed Ikutos face suddenly get a smirk on it. Amu looked at the couch but Ikuto wasn't there anymore. "Ikuto?" Amu felt something wrap around her waist and a pressure on her back. "Eeep!" Amu shouted startled a blush taking over her face. "You look sexy with black hair Amu." Ikuto breathed into her ear. "IKUTO!" Amu shouted while her blush got darker. "Get off me!" Amu started struggling to get out of Ikutos arms. Ikuto laughed and let her go. She turned around to see him still laughing at her. She crossed her arms and pouted at him.

Suddenly Ikuto remembered the reason he had come back. "Amu." Ikuto said seriously. Amu was surprised at Ikutos sudden seriousness. "Amu I met one of your friends today. The one with the long purple hair. "He thinks that you've died." Ikuto said with sympathy in his eyes. Amu was shocked. Her friends thought she was dead? First her family died and now her friends didn't even know she was alive. 'Why me?' She thought sadly. Ikuto noticed the sadness creeping into her eyes. "Amu I'm- "Its ok Ikuto. I think I need to be by myself right now." Amu said."You can stay in here if you want but I am going to go to my room." Amu said and made her way out of the room. Ikuto decided to stay in case Amu needed him. Amu realized that if she went to school on Monday her friends would find it she was alive and everything would be fine. For some odd reason it made her feel bad. She didn't want to tell them she wasn't dead. Why? She had no idea why but her mind was telling her not to let them know.

Amu ran towards the staff room to see Kanoko. She had no idea why she decided to do this. She got to the staff room and knocked on the door hoping Kanoko hadn't enrolled her yet. Kanoko opened the door looking tired. "Amu? What happened to your hair!?" Asked Kanoko shocked at the sudden change. Amu looked down at he feet. "I just felt like I needed a change." Amu told her. Kanoko just stared at her for a few moments before letting it go. "So why did you come here?" Kanoko asked."I just came to see if you enrolled me yet." Amu answered. Kanokos eyes suddenly lit up. "Oh Amu! I'm sorry I've been a bit preoccupied and havent been able to re enroll you yet. I'll do it as soon as I deal with some troublemakers. Why don't you come in and sit down while I enroll you." Kanoko opened the door to let Amu in. As Amu entered the room she noticed two girls who were sitting on the floor on the other side of the room leaning against the wall and giggling. One of the girls had shoulder length red hair with a single black high lite. She was wearing a long black t-shirt with sleeves that looked like they had been ripped off and a picture of a white skull with a red heart in the left eye. A short checkered black skirt and combat boots. On top of her t-shirt were two big black belts. Amu saw that she had different colored eyes. One was blue and the other was green. The other girl had short purple hair with a white headband in it and a side fringe. Purple eyes that were a little lighter shade than her hair. She had a pink t-shirt with a silver glitter star on the right shoulder and a hot pink skirt that reached mid-thigh. She was wearing flat white shoes and white socks that came up to her knees. They spotted Amu and and smiled at her. Kanoko stood behind Amu and gave them a stern look. "Has school ended?" Amu asked confused as to why the two girls were here and not at school. Kanoko saw Amu watching the girls and realized she was talking about them. " I had to pick them up early from school after they started a food fight in their classroom." Kanoko explained.

"Now lets get you enrolled." Kanoko said excitedly. "About the enrollment. I wanted to ask you a favor." Amu started. Kanoko gave her a questioning look. "Can you give me a different name?"Amu asked. Kanokos look became even more confused. "Please! I think it would be better if I had another name." Amu pleaded with a desperate look in her eyes. "I guess….." Kanoko gave in. "Is there any name you have in mind?" Amu thought for a moment. She wanted to have a name that was still close to her old name. "Ami kisumi." Amu said. "Alright then." Kanoko said. "You may leave if you want. But first." Kanoko gestured to the two girls who were still laughing and talking. "This is Aiko." Kanoko said gesturing to the girl with short hair. "And this is Anika." Kanoko gestured to the red haired one. "These two have been here ever since they were born. Neither of their parents could take care of a newborn baby so they were given to us. They actually both got given to us on the same day. They have always been friends." Kanoko explained to Amu quietly. "I hope you three can become friends. Maybe you can teach them some sense Amu."

Kanoko let Amu out and told Aiko and Anika they could leave as well. Amu was starting to head back to her room when she felt herself being pulled back. She felt one hand on each of her arms and looked behind her to see Aiko and Anika holding her back. "Whats your name?" Asked Anika. Amu was about to use her real name but decided that the fewer people know it the better. "I'm Ami kisumi." Amu said. "Well I'm pretty sure tat kanoko would have told you our names." Anika said and Amu nodded in reply. " Wanna hang out with us!?" asked Aiko who seemed really excited. Amu just wanted to go to her room and think out her problems alone but Aiko looked really excited. "Sure." Amu replied deciding she didn't want to act rude. "YAY!" Aiko shouted. "Follow Aiko!" she shouted grabbed Amus arm and ran outside with Anika following behind them.

Amu spent the rest of the day playing with Aiko and Anika. Despite Amus earlier feelings she started feeling better better after being with Aiko and Anika. Aiko reminded Amu of Yaya and Anika always had this glint in her eye that made her look like she was planning something mischievous. Aiko was spinning around in circles and fell over making Amu laugh. Anika and Aiko looked at each other and smiled. They were happy that they had made their new friend who seemed depressed laugh. Kanoko came out and smiled at the scene. "Dinner is ready!" Kanoko called to the three. "Yummy!" Aiko shouted. She grabbed Amus arm again and they ran to the dining hall. Amu was dragged to the counter get her dinner plate with curry and rice on it and eating utensils while Aiko grabbed two plates and two sets of eating utensils. Aiko dragged her to an empty table and Aiko sat down on the other side of the table to Amu. Anika came a few seconds after and sat down grabbing one of the plates and a pair of utensils Aiko had grabbed.

After they finished eating they all got up and put their dirty dishes in the kitchen. Aiko yawned. "Aiko is tired." Aiko said sleepily. "Me too." said Anika. "We are gonna go to bed now. See ya tomorrow Ami." Anika called to Amu as she grabbed Aiko and pulled her towards their rooms, which was on the other side of the orphanage to Amus. Amu waved and ran up to her room. She grabbed a towel went to the bathroom which was luckily unoccupied and took a shower and got ready for bed changing into her pajamas and brushing her teeth and brushing her hair. She wondered if Ikuto was still here and went to her secret room.

She saw Ikuto sitting sitting on the couch watching TV. He looked up at her. "Hey Ikuto." Amu said smiling. Ikuto was surprised at Amus sudden happiness but as usual kept his bored face on. He patted the spot next to him and Amu sat down. Suddenly she was pulled into his chest. She was surprised and didn't move for a moment. She started blushing and trying to get away. "Ikuto! Let me go!" Amu yelled at him. "No. You're my little teddy bear and I should get to hug my little teddy bear." Ikuto said with a smirk on his face. "I'm not a teddy bear!" Amu shouted. "No your not." Ikuto said. Amu looked at him confused. "You're a kitten. But you're my kitten." Ikuto told her matter of factly. "Mou Ikuto! I'm not your kitten!" Amu said and began struggling more. Ikuto sighed. "Fine." Ikuto said with fake sadness in his voice and let her go. She quickly scooted away from him crossing her arms and pouting. Ikuto looked at her and got an idea. When he was sure she wasn't paying any attention to him he slowly made his way closer to her. He suddenly tackled her causing them both to fall off the couch with ikuto on top pinning down. Amu began blushing red. "Like this position Amu?" Ikuto asked smugly. "A-as if!" Amu stuttered. Ikuto leaned down so that their foreheads were touching. Amu blushed harder. "W-what are you d-doing?"Amu asked. Ikuto looked at her intensely for a few moments before bursting into laughter and getting off her. "What did you want me to do Amu?" Ikuto teased. "Nothing of course!" Ikuto gave her a disbelieving look. "I am gonna go now. See ya later kitten." Ikuto said with a little wave chara changed with yoru and went out through the balcony. Jumping off the balcony he made his way home. Amu looked at her watch. It was 9:00. She made her way to her bedroom and climbed in to smiled happy at the fact that she had made new friends and that made her feel better about going to school on Monday.

~Rima POV~

I layed on me bed not looking at anything. I looked over at my chara Kusu kusu who was poking at one of Amus eggs. Wait. 'Wouldn't her eggs have dissapeared if she died?' I suddenly realized. Kusu kusu!" I shouted excited at my realization. She looked at me startled. "If a charas owner died then the chara would dissapear right?" I asked her. "Of course Rima! If the owner died then there would be no reason for that chara to exist anymore."Kusu kusu explained. "Then why are Amus charas still here?" I saw Kusu kusu suddenly realize what I was getting at. Her eyes brightened. "Amu must still be alive!" My chara shouted and started dancing around the room. "Don't say anything to the guardians though. In case we are wrong." I told my chara sternly. She just smiled and nodded."We are going to have to find her though."I wondered how I was going to start the search. Kusu kusu had a thoughtful look on her face. "We should sleep on it." I nodded my head. Amu had to be alive. And I was going to find her.

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So many secrets. plz R&R.


	7. the game begins

Hello everyone^^ Thank you SOO much to all my awesome reviwers, subscribers and favoritewrs!!!! I was so scared. My computer crashed and my mom said she was going to delete EVERYTHING on my file (of course not her file) but luckily the computer got fixed and nothing was deleted!

Ikuto:Enough talking lets get on with the story  
kXa: Well i'm sorry if my life is boring to you!  
Ikuto: Watever  
Amu:kXa does not own shugo chara in any way shape or form!  
Ikuto:AMU!! ~runs after Amu~  
Amu:AHHHHHHH! GET AWAY!!

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~Normal POV~

Amu woke up to a pounding at her door. "AMI!" She heard a familiar voice shouting. "Aiko?" Amu mumbled deciding not to get up. The pounding on the door still didn't stop. Amu finally gave up and ran to open the door. "Finally your awake!" called Aiko. Amu saw Anika standing behind Aiko. "Good morning Ami." Anika said cheerfully. "Morning." Amu said tiredly. "Lets go and play before breakfast!" cried Aiko. "Let me get dressed first." Amu said. A few minutes later Amu came out fully dressed. She saw Aiko and Anika still waiting for her. Amu suddenly noticed that there were two charas flying around. Amu stopped and stared at the charas. They reminded her of Ran, Miki and Suu and how they weren't with her. She didn't even know if they were okay. "You can see charas Ami?" Anika asked noticing Amu's stare. Amu nodded. "Do you have any?" asked Aiko. "I'm Aikos chara. My name is Miko. Nice to meet you." One of the charas greeted. Miko had purple hair with a black bow in it and blue eyes. She was wearing a purple nurse uniform with flat white shoes. " My name is Piper. And I'm Anikas chara." The second chara said. She had long blonde hair that reached down her back and blue eyes. Her skin was albino white. She was wearing a gray t-shirt with long skivvies underneath, a black mini skirt and black-heeled shoes. She also had fox ears and a fox tail. "I'm Anikas self that wants to be a model." Amu wished she had Ran, Miki and Suu with her. She remembered that they had gone to Rimas house to play with Kusu kusu. Why hadn't they come back? Did something happen to them? That thought made Amu sad. "No!" Aiko shouted startling Amu. She saw Aiko looking at her with her cheeks puffed up. "No more sad Ami." Aiko said. There was an awkward silence. "Lets go now." Anika said. Aiko quickly went back to her normal self. Aiko went to grab Amu but she dodged and started running ahead. Amu decided not to worry at the moment about anything and just play and have fun. Aiko chased Amu and Anika chased after both of them.

For the whole day Amu played with Aiko and Anika making sure to not think of anything except having fun. It was night and Amu was getting out of the shower. Amu realized that she was the only one staying in that area of the orphanage. She didn't mind. The bathroom was always free and no one would bother her. She checked her secret room to see if Ikuto had come. Finding it empty she went to bed. She fell asleep with a smile on her face.

~Rima POV~

I woke up with the feeling that I was falling. I had had the strangest dream.

Rimas Dream

I was running. I didn't know why, but I knew I needed to get somewhere fast. Suddenly I was in front of Amus house and I stopped running. I saw Amu coming out the front door. "Amu!" I called out to her. She saw me and smiled. She beckoned for me to come to her. I ran up to her and hugged her. "Amu where have you been?" I asked her. She looked sad. She turned back to her house and signaled for me to follow her. She went inside her house and I entered after her. I was shocked by what I saw. Blood was all over the floor and walls. I tried to scream but it got stuck in my throat. I looked up to see Amu walking away from the horrible scene. "Amu?" I called. She turned to me. She was crying. "Ran? Miki? Suu?" I heard her question. "They are safe. They are still with me." I told her. She smiled. "Thank you." She said. "I'm coming back." She said. "What do you mean? When are you coming back?" I asked her. She just waved to me and suddenly she disappeared. "Wait!" I yelled. Everything suddenly went black and the floor fell from beneath me.

End Rimas dream

I sighed with relief. It had all seemed so realistic. She had said she was coming back. Why would her dream make Amu say that? Will she really come back? I knew it was a dream but could Amu really be coming back? I was going to start my search for Amu today. Kusu kusu flew over to me. "I had an idea on how to find Amu!" Kusu kusu said excitedly. "Its only temporary but we could start showing a picture of her around the town and maybe somebody has seen her." It seemed like a good idea. "C'mon. Lets get ready and go."

~Few hours later~

"Have you seen this girl?" I must have asked this for the thousandth time, and for the thousandth time the person shook their head. No one had seen Amu. Even though I had been doing this for hours but with no results. I was still desperate to find Amu. I told Kusu kusu to just look around for her. I didn't think it would work but I still had to try. I doubted I would find her today but I couldn't lose hope. I kept walking around town showing Amus picture to everyone I saw.

I noticed that it was getting dark and I began to head home after having no luck whatsoever. No one had seen Amu. I would just have to try again tomorrow. I didn't know what I would do on Monday. I wondered how everyone else was doing. 'Oh well I'll see them on Monday.' "I'm home." I told my mom. She sat doing her paperwork and ignored me. I headed to bed. I wouldn't stop looking till I found her.

~Amu POV~

I got up early to avoid Aiko and Anika and went to Kanokos office hoping she was awake. I knocked on the door. Luckily she answered. "Amu it's early. What are you doing?" Kanoko asked. "Can we go into town today? I want to get some colored contacts. And can you call me Ami just in case someone hears?" I asked her. "I think you're taking this new identity thing kinda far. But if that's what you want." Kanoko said. Kanoko looked at her watch. "Most shops open at eight. It's seven at the moment so we have an hour to get there. It only takes half an hour to drive there so go change and get ready and we will go at around 7:30." Kanoko said. "Kay. Thanks!" I said. I ran up to my room and got ready to go into town. I grabbed my money that I have been saving over the years and grabbed a jacket as the weather was getting colder and ran back downstairs. I knocked on Kanokos door again. Kanoko came out while pulling on her own coat. "Lets go." She said straight away. "We'll eat breakfast there and I have one of the other workers taking over for me." Kanoko said. We got to the car and I read the digital clock as she started the engine. It was 7:40 so we would get there soon after the shops opened. I had to get there as early as possible in case someone who recognized me would be there later.

We got to the shops and there were only a few people wandering around. "We'll go to the optometrists and get the contacts there." Kanoko said. She started heading off in some direction. I followed after her quickly hoping she knew where it was. We got to a building with the picture of glasses on the window. We went inside if they sold colored contacts. The lady phoned someone telling them that I was looking for colored contacts. A guy who was wearing a doctor looking coat came out. He smiled at me and led me into his office. Kanoko waited in the reception. "So your looking for colored contacts?" the doctor asked me. I nodded my head. "What color do you want? We have black, blue, red, yellow, purple, green and brown. I thought about it for a moment. "Blue please." I asked unconsciously thinking about Ikuto. The doctor reached into a drawer and handed me a small case. Inside that is the contacts and a special liquid that will keep the contacts clean." The doctor told me. "You know how to put them in?" the doctor asked me. I nodded. "Okay then. That will be $100." I handed him the money thanked him and left. Kanoko was reading a magazine with a bored look on her face. "Lets go." I said to her. She got up and followed me out the door. I'm just going to run ahead and get something and we'll meet at the car kay?" Kanoko said. "Alright." I replied. She ran ahead and I just kept walking normally. Going in the general direction of her car. I wasn't looking where I was going when suddenly a picture was thrust into my face. I looked at it. It was a picture of me. "Have you seen this girl?" I heard someone ask. I looked up at the owner of the familiar voice. I saw Rima. 'Oh no." I thought. Rima had a shocked look on her face. "Amu? I-is that you?" She asked me. "No I don't know who your talking about." I replied and tried to walk away quickly. "You may have dyed your hair but I know its you Amu." Rima said firmly. I stopped walking and turned back to her. I was about to say something to her when I noticed Kanoko was waving at me from her car. "C'mon lets go!" I heard her yell. I looked back at Rima. "Who is that?" Rima asked. "I gotta go." I told her and ran away towards Kanoko. "Wait!" Rima called out to me. I ignored her and kept running. Kanoko got in the car and I quickly jumped in. "I got you some chocolate filled taiyaki. I know its not the best breakfast but its okay once in a while." Kanoko said and handed me the bag with the pastry inside it. "Thanks." I mumbled. I knew I had to do something. Rima would see me tomorrow. I needed to tell her the truth. Otherwise she wouldn't stop pestering me until I told her anyway. I sighed. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

~Ikuto POV~

I as bored. I had been sleeping all day long because there was nothing to do. I suddenly remembered my suspicions about Easter. "Yoru!" I called. "Hai-nya." He replied. I chara changed and I got my ears and tail and leapt from my open window making my way towards Easter. I got in front of the large building. I hated going in there but my suspicion had been nagging at me and was too strong to ignore. I went inside and went straight up to the director's office. I knocked on the door. A few seconds later the door opened revealing a boy who looked to be about my age. He had longish black hair that was stylishly messy and crystal green eyes. He was skinny and wearing black jeans with a chain hanging out of his right pocket and a gray hoodie with a black undershirt. He smiled warmly at me. I eyed him warily. "I'm here to see director Kazuomi." I told him coldly. I couldn't trust anyone who worked for Easter. He opened the door wider and stepped out of the way to let me in. "Ah Ikuto it's nice to see you again." Kazuomi said. The fake happiness in his voice evident. "I was going to contact you. This is Kanari Akame. His family owed us lots of money but they died before their debt could be paid. He has been forced to work for us until the money has been paid back." Kazuomi explained. He was being forced to work for Easter? Maybe he wont be so bad. "What did you need to contact me for?" I asked him. "He is going to be your new partner." Kazuomi said. "Why?" I asked him. "Because you're not doing your job as we ask you to. He is going to keep you in line." Kazuomi explained. I turned around to glare at my new 'partner'. He looked back at me and smiled. I was angry. I stormed out of the room slamming the door shut behind me. Was that all I was feeling? Easter was planning on getting me a babysitter? Is that all Easter was planning? For some reason I knew it wasn't.

~Kazuomi POV~

"So do you think you can handle him?" I asked Easters newest member. "Of course I can. I've handled harder missions than this one." He replied. "True." I replied thinking of all the things he had done for Easter. He had never technically been acknowledged as a member of Easter until now but he has been doing things for Easter for years. "I will take my leave now." He said bowing and then he left. 'This plan will definitely work.' I thought. I had told Ikuto that Kanari had become his partner to keep an eye on him. But the plan went much deeper than that. The game was about to begin for Hinamori Amu.

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Yay nother chap done!

Amu:Haha! You have a babysitter!  
Ikuto:Well you were thinking of me when you got your contacts ~smirk~  
Amu:S-shut up!!  
kXa:Stop fighting you two!!  
PLz R&R!!


	8. My boyfriend

Chap 8 is here! I say this every time but i just have to thank everyone who reviewed and favorited or alerted. Cookies for everyone!!!  
ikuto: So excited......  
kXa: Hehe but i have a special surprise in the story!!  
ikuto: Really? Lets get on with it then! kXa does not own shugo chara or any of its characters

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~Normal POV~

Amu was getting ready school. Kanoko had gotten a uniform for her yesterday on their way back to the orphanage. Amu needed to get Rima before school. She put on her disguise and ran out the door and ran to the reception are in the front of the orphanage. There was a lady there directing kids into 3 groups. Kanoko had told her that there were 3 different schools that the kids in the orphanage went to. 1 was an elementary school and the other 2 were for high schools. Of course Amu was going to go on the elementary school one. She went to the group with the younger kids. "Ami!" Amu heard. Suddenly there was a weight on her back. "Hey Aiko." Amu greeted. The weight lifted and Aiko was in front of her. "Morning!" Aiko shouted and grinned. "Hello Ami." Anika said. "Hey Anika." Amu replied. "Ready for your first day of school?" Anika asked. Amu was about to say it wasn't her first day as she had gone to the school before but decided against it because she knew they would ask her about her friends and want to meet them. Then she realized something. Why hadn't she seen them before? "Have you guys always gone to Seiyo?" Amu asked. "Nope. We only started on Friday." Said Anika. "One of the workers used to specially drive us to another school but we wanted to go to Seiyo so we changed." Explained Anika. "Isn't that the same day that you got in trouble?" Amu asked. Aiko smiled and Anika smirked with a devilish look on her face. Amu had a feeling that Anika got in trouble a lot.

"Time to go everyone!" Cried a worker. She led Amus group outside to where some buses were waiting. Her group piled into the first bus. When all the passengers were on the bus the doors closed and they made their way to school. Amu sat alone with Aiko and Anika sitting behind her. Aiko had explained how their charas hated school so they stayed at the orphanage. She was staring out the window, butterflies in her stomach. She couldn't wait to see everyone again but she was also really nervous. Would they recognize her? Rima had. She hadn't had her contacts in but would that make a difference? Hopefully they will just think that she looked like 'Amu'.

They pulled up to the school and everyone got off the bus. Amu tried to spot Rima as the bus drove away. "Aiko and I will show you to the office so you can get your timetable." Anika said. Amu didn't need anyone to take her there as she knew the way but she let Aiko and Anika lead her and pretended not to know the way. They got to the office and Amu received her timetable. "What class are you in?" Anika asked. Amu handed her the timetable. Aiko looked over Anikas shoulder. "Your in our class!" Aiko exclaimed. Amu smiled.

~Rima POV~

I arrived at school pretty early. I saw that the rest of the guardians were there. "Hey guys!" I called out to them. They looked up at me. They all looked depressed. They were still mourning Amu. I would be too if I hadn't already figured out that she was alive. I walked up to them. "How are you all?" I asked them. "Fine." They all mumbled automatically, obviously not fine. Yaya looked like she was in deep thought. "Whatcha thinking about Yaya?" I asked her. She jumped scared out of her thoughts and blushed. "Nothing." She said still blushing. "Really?" I asked as I could feel a smirk form on my face. Everyone looked at Yaya. "Mou! Stop looking at Yaya!" Yaya shouted embarrassed and then she ran away. Everyone looked amused. I was glad that they were able to smile. Amu was still alive for sure. She denied it when I saw her but I knew it was her. At least I had a clue that she lived around the town.

Suddenly this group of kids came into the school. I realized that it was the bus from the orphanage. I was about to turn away when I saw her. It was Amu with the black hair. She had blue eyes now but it was definitely her. Why is she completely changing her appearance? I decided to follow her and see if I could get any information. "I need to do something I'll see you later." I told the guardians. They nodded at me. "When the bell rings we aren't going to class we are going to the royal garden. We are holding a mini memorial service for Amu." Tadase said. "Kay." I replied and ran off in the direction Amu went. She was following 2 people. I recognized them as the two new students who came on Friday. 'Didn't they get sent home on the same day?' I asked myself. I tried to remember their names. I am pretty sure that the one with red hair is Anika and the short one is Aiko. They were in my class. They were heading towards the office and went in. I hid behind a wall close to the office door. A few minutes later I heard the door open. "What class are you in?" I heard someone ask. I looked out from behind the wall and saw Amu handing a piece of paper to Anika. "Your in our class!" I heard Aiko shout at Amu. Amu smiled. I got more information now. She goes to the orphanage. So something happened to her parents. "C'mon Ami! We'll show you around the school!" I heard Aiko shout to Amu. 'She shouts a lot.' I thought. I needed to talk to Amu. Aiko had called her Ami. Wasn't that her little sister's name? Apparently she doesn't want anybody to know who she is. I thought for a moment then came up with a plan.

I came out from behind the wall. Amus back was facing me. Anika looked displeased as she spotted me and Aiko looked down. "What's up guys?" Amu asked them. "Behind you." Anika said bluntly. I smirked. It seems that she didn't like me much. Amu turned around. She spotted me and her face showed her shock before she composed herself. "Who is that?" Amu asked even though she knew perfectly well who I was. Anika scoffed. "She's one of the guardians. They are all goody goodies who act like they own the school and think they are cool." So it wasn't just me she hated it was all the guardians. "If you will excuse me I need to talk to the new student." I said. Amu looked to be hurt by Anikas words about the guardians. Anika glared at me. "I'll be right back kay?" Amu said to them. "We'll be right here." Anika replied still glaring at me. I turned and walked away from her friends to a place where no one was and her friends couldn't see us and she followed me. I turned around to demand she tell me what was going on but then I saw the expression on her face. She was looking at me with desperation and her eyes were filling up with tears.

~Normal POV~

Rima was unsure what to do. Suddenly Amu jumped at Rima and hugged her tightly, her tears starting to spill down her cheeks. "Rima." Amu croaked out. "I missed you so much." Amu said and hugged Rima tighter. Even though it had only been a few days it felt like months since she had seen Rima. Rima was shocked for a second then hugged Amu back just as tightly. "I knew it was you." Rima whispered tears threatening to spill from he own eyes. Amu laughed a little and sniffled. She and Rima let go of each other. "I'm sorry I tried to trick you. I wasn't expecting to see you there." Amu said. Rima smiled instantly forgiving her. "Why have you disguised your looks? Plus I heard Aiko call you Ami." Rima said. "I don't know why but I didn't want anyone to who I was. I found out that you and the guardians thought I was dead and I thought it would be best if it stayed that way. I changed my name to Ami Kisumi." Amu explained. "What happened to your family?" Rima asked. "They were murdered." Amu said quietly. Rima felt sad for Amu. Who wouldn't feel sad for their friend whose family was murdered? "Rima I need to ask u a favor. I need you not to tell anyone about me." Amu pleaded. Rima saw that Amu was desperate for her to agree. "Okay. I wont breathe a word to anyone." Rima promised. "Thank you so much Rima!" Amu thanked her. Rima smiled at her. She was happy that she had her friend back even if she wasn't allowed to tell anyone.

"I have something for you Amu." Rima said. She reached into her bag and brang out something wrapped in a blanket. Amu curiously took the package. She carefully unwrapped the package. Amu gasped. Inside the blanket were 3 eggs. 1 red, 1blue and 1 green. "Ran? Miki? Suu?" Amu said. Rima shivered. It reminded her of her dream. 'Didn't my dream also say that Amu was going to come back soon?' Rima realized.

"I'll see you later!" Amu called to Rima heading back to Aiko and Anika. "Did she do anything to you?" Anika asked. "No." Amu said looking confused. "Why did she want to talk to you?" Anika asked suspiciously. "Just wanted to welcome me to the school." Amu answered quickly. Anika looked thoughtful for a moment when the bell rang for school to start. "Time to go!" Aiko shouted. They ran to the sixth grade star class's classroom. Amu saw Nikaido waiting outside. Aiko and Anika went inside waiting for me to be introduced. "Oh you must be the new student." Nikaido said. When he looked at her he suddenly got a sad look on his face. Amu waited for him to say something but he stood there with the same expression on his face. "Sensei?" Amu questioned after a while. "Oh. I'm so sorry. You just remind me of a student I had. She recently passed away. She was quite popular and everyone is still a bit shook up." Nikaido said. "Oh." Amu said staring sadly at the wall.

"Well let's introduce you now." Nikaido said happily and walked into the classroom. "Okay class lets welcome our new student Ami Kisumi." Nikaido said and Amu slid the door open. As she walked in everyone instantly sat up. She heard whispers of 'She looks like Amu' and 'Are they related?'. Those comments made Amu smirk. "Why don't you say something to the class Ami?" Nikaido suggested. 'Have to be different to 'Amu'.' She thought. "Why should I? Where's my seat?" Amu said. Nikaido sweatdropped. "Umm. Okay then. There's an empty row in the front." Nikaido said and gestured to two empty desks. Amu went and sat down at the desk next to the window. She could feel the student's stares boring into her back. She began hearing more whispers. 'She's so rude!' and 'She's nothing like Amu'. Amu sighed. She took out her books and began doodling in them as Nikaido started the lesson.

Time passed quickly and the day was nearly over. At lunch Aiko and Anika had worriedly asked her if she was okay. Not used to her putting on a façade. "I'm fine." She'd replied with a reassuring smile. Now she was waiting outside the gate with the other kids from the orphanage waiting for the bus to come pick them up. She hadn't seen any of the guardians today except Rima. Tadase and Rima are in her class but they weren't there. She wondered why. Amu was standing away from the group of kids from the orphanage. They were all chatting excitedly. She could also see Aiko and Anika talking to another group of girls.

"Yo." Amu heard from above. She looked up and there standing on the wall looking down at her was Ikuto. Amu beamed at him. He jumped down in front of her and smirked. "Happy to see me Amu?" Ikuto said making Amu blush. "A-as if!" She stuttered. "Look it's the kiddy king and his friends." Ikuto said looking to the left (her right). Amu swung her head in the direction he was looking and sure enough the guardians were coming out of school. Tadase was in front. When Amu spotted him she noticed that she didn't blush like she usually did and her heart didn't speed up like normal.

Ikuto suddenly got an idea. He smirked. It was the perfect plan. "Hey Amu." He whispered. She looked at him. "You don't want them to recognize you right?" Ikuto asked. "Yah. How did you know?" Amu questioned. He looked pointedly at her hair. "You changed your hair color, your eye color and I know you changed your name. " Ikuto explained. "Oh." Amu said. "So wouldn't it be better if your guardian friends were less likely to get close to you?" Ikuto asked. "I guess…" Amu replied. Ikuto smirked, happy that she was falling for it. He leaned his arm above her against the wall and leant closer. She leaned away but the wall was stopping her. "W-what are you doing?" Amu asked. "Tsukiyomi Ikuto!" Amu heard Tadase shout. Ikuto looked at Tadase then back at Amu. He leant closer and finally pressed his lips against hers. Amu was shocked. Just before he pulled away she felt herself start kissing her back. Ikuto pulled away and looked surprised into her eyes for a moment then put his normal smirk on his face.

'Did she just kiss back or was it my imagination?' Ikuto thought. Amu blushed like crazy. "That should make them leave you alone as long as you tell them something about what happened to make them stay away." Ikuto whispered into her ear. She nodded, still surprised at herself for kissing back. Ikuto convinced himself he did that to embarrass her but found that he had enjoyed it way too much. "I'll leave you to it." Ikuto said. "See ya later Ami. Bye kiddy king." Ikuto said. Tadase was still in shock as well as the rest of the guardians especially Rima. "Y-you know Tsukiyomi Ikuto?" Tadase asked her. She had her back facing him and the other guardians. "Yes….H-he's my boyfriend." Amu replied.

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Yay! They finally did it!  
Amu:WHY DOES HE HAVE TO BE MY BOYFRIEND!!!  
kXa: scary..... Thats just what you told the guardians to keep them away from you  
Ikuto: You know you like it ~smirk~  
Amu: ~blushes~  
kXa:Anyway... Hope you liked it! Plz R&R!!! It makes me very happy to get reviews^^


	9. Tell me

Chapter 9 is finally here! Thanks for the lovely reviews~bows~^^  
Amu: YAY!!!  
kXa: ~evil glint~  
Amu: W-whats with that l-look?  
kXa: You'll see  
Suu: kXa does not own shugo chara~desu

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~Normal POV~

The guardians gasped. "Your boyfriend?" Tadase asked not quite believing it. "Do you work for Easter?" He asked suddenly getting into a defensive position. "No." Amu said and turned around to face him. He looked shocked when he saw her. "Y-you look just like Amu." He said. She couldn't be her old self. Amu decided that she had to be someone who was really different to the 'old' Amu. "Everyone's been saying that to me." Amu said. She looked at Tadase but he was still staring at her in shock. "Its rude to stare y'know." Amu snapped. "O-o h right. S-sorry." He said and blushed as he tore his eyes away from Amu. "You're blushing? What are you a girl?" Amu said. "Hey that's mean!" Someone called out. Yaya then came and stood in front of Tadase. "Who are you?" Amu asked already knowing the answer. "Yuiki Yaya, Ace chair." She replied. "Ami time to go!" Aiko shouted. Amu saw that the orphanages bus had arrived and people were already getting on. "Cya guardians." Amu called and ran to Aiko and Anika who were waiting for her. Anika saw the guardians and glared at them then got on the bus. Amu took one last look at her old friends and boarded the bus. She noticed that Rima had looked the most shocked. The last person got on the bus it rumbled to life and they began making their way back to the orphanage.

"That girl looked just like Amu." Yaya said. The guardians nodded. "We will have to keep an eye on her. Even though she said that she doesn't work for Easter she still hangs out with the enemy." Tadase said. Again the guardians nodded. 'What is Amu doing?' Rima thought. She looked calm on the outside but on the inside she was bursting with curiosity. 'When did Amu and Ikuto get so close?' Rima decided that she needed to have a little talk with Amu tomorrow. "Yaya's gotta go!" Yaya said quickly bringing Rima out of her thoughts. "Why?" Rima asked at Yaya's sudden need to leave. "Yaya just…Yaya just…. Come with me!" Yaya said grabbed Rima and started to run away from the rest of the group. Rima looked behind to see Kuukai had joined the group and all of them were watching them run away confused. "Hey Yaya. Kuukai is there. Lets go back." Rima said. "Yaya cant." Yaya said. Rima gave her a confused look. Yaya blushed and looked down at her feet. "K-Kuukai said that he loved Yaya." Yaya said embarrassed. There was an awkward silence. "Do you love him?" Rima asked breaking it. "Yaya likes Kuukai as a friend. She doesn't want a boyfriend." Yaya said. "How did he react when you told him?" Rima questioned. "Well…Yaya didn't tell him. When he told Yaya she freaked out, told Kuukai she had to go and slammed the door in his face." Yaya explained. "Oh. Probably not the best approach." Rima said. "Yaya will tell him soon but Kuukai is Yaya's and Yaya doesn't want to hurt his feelings." Yaya said. "I don't really know much about this kind of things so all I can tell you is that I think you should tell him and hopefully he will be okay with you being friends." Rima said.

Rima and Yaya made their way back to the guardians. Kuukai had already left and  
Yaya sighed in relief. "What was that about?" Nagehiko asked. "I-I-I." Yaya stuttered. "Girls stuff." Rima said. "Oh okay." Nagehiko said and let it drop. "Thanks Rima." Yaya whispered gratefully to Rima. Rima nodded. They waved goodbye to each other and headed home.

~Amu POV~

As I sat on the bus I started freaking out about the kiss. Luckily no one from the orphanage saw it. I can't believe that I had actually started to kiss him back. Did I…love him? I blushed at that thought. There was no way! I was just too caught up in the moment. We arrived at the orphanage and everyone got off. I shuffled off and found that Aiko and Anika were standing by the door waiting for me. "Lets go play now!" Aiko said. "Sorry. I've had a tiring day and I am just going to rest." I told them and made my way up to my secret room.

When I got to my secret room I tiredly made my way to the couch and closed my eyes as I lied down. After a few moments I felt a presence above me. I groaned. "Awww that's no way to greet someone. Especially me." I heard a cocky voice say. There was a long silence. "What did you tell them?" Ikuto asked. I opened my eyes and looked into his blue ones as Ikuto looked down from over the back of the couch. "I told them that…that you're my b-boyfriend." I replied. He smirked making me blush and I could feel my heart beat faster. Did this prove I love him? I guess I do love him. I wouldn't be able to tell him though. He would just tease me. I couldn't prevent the sad look from coming onto my face and Ikuto noticed immediately. "What's wrong?" Ikuto asked worry in his voice. "Its nothing." I said and turned my back to him.

"Tell me." Ikuto said. "Its nothing." I repeated and buried my face into the cushions. "Amu." I heard Ikuto whisper. I unburied my face and saw Ikuto sitting in front of the couch with a serious look on his face. I was suddenly feeling brave as I saw the concern in his features and I leant forward and touched my forehead to his. His face was surprised at my sudden actions. I felt my heart beating faster and faster and was almost sure that he could hear it. I was now completely sure. I loved Tsukiyomi Ikuto.

~Ikuto POV~

I sat in front of Amu. She was blushing when she suddenly looked like she was going to cry and I was immediately worried. "Amu." I whispered as I sat in front of her trying to get her to look at me. She unhid her face and looked at me but something was different. She had an emotion in her eyes that I had never seen before and I could feel my heart respond by beating faster. Suddenly she leant forward and touched her forehead to mine. There was a tightness in my chest and I felt a powerful urge to kiss her. Could this feeling be love? Without thinking about what I was doing I pressed my lips to hers. I was shocked at my own actions when I felt her start to kiss back. I felt her arms slid around my neck and in return I slid my hands behind her back and pulled her closer deepening the kiss. We both pulled away breathing heavily.

~Normal POV~

Ikuto looked at Amu and saw her blushing. For once he decided not to tease her. "I-Ikuto I-" Amu started but was stopped when Ikuto placed his hand over her mouth. "Do you like me?" Ikuto asked Amu. She shook her head. Dejectedly Ikuto took his hand off her mouth. "I don't like you because I love you." Amu said. Ikuto snapped his head up and looked into her eyes and could see the love in them. "D-do you l-love me?" Amu asked hopefully. "Of course." Ikuto replied. He then pulled her into another kiss. He pushed his tongue against her lips demanding entrance. She opened her mouth straight away and his tongue began to explore her mouth, trying to encourage her tongue to join in. Timidly her tongue began to move as she gained more confidence. Ikuto knew that Amu was new to this and let her take over. He hadn't kissed any girls before either but he was more educated and confident.

They both pulled away for air. Amu as blushing madly. "Was that your first kiss?" Ikuto asked boldly. Amu blushed harder and nodded. Ikuto smirked. He got up and lay down next to her on the couch. He put his arms securely around her waist. She cuddled up to him as much as she could putting her head in his chest and her hands clutched his shirt. Ikuto began to comb his hands through Amus hair. Slowly Amu and Ikutos eyes began to droop and finally they both fell asleep.

~Airport~

"We're back!" Sanjo called out to no one in particular as they got off the plane. Utau sighed. 'Sanjo is always so excited.' Utau thought as she looked at her manager who was smiling and humming to herself. They had both just come back from a tour in America and all Utau could think about was Ikuto. 'Did he miss me while I was gone?' Utau thought hopefully. She didn't want to admit it but she had also missed Amu while she was away. Utau was thinking of a way to meet with Amu without it looking like she had missed her. "Our car is here!" Sanjo announced disturbing Utau's thoughts. 'Finally I'm home. I'm coming Ikuto.'

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Done! Did everyone like it??  
Amu:~blushes~  
Ikuto:I know i loved it!  
kXa:IKUTOOOOO!!!  
Suu: Please R&R~desu^^


	10. Ikuto's girlfriend

This is my longest chapter yet! Thanks to the reviewers and alerters and favoriters!! You are all awesome!!  
Amu: Lets hurry up and start! kXa does not own shugo chara

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~Amu POV~

I woke up feeling warm and happy. I didn't want to open eyes for fear of the comfort going away. Yesterday felt like a dream and I didn't want to wake up from it. "Good morning." I heard a husky voice whisper into my ear. I opened my eyes to meet Ikutos blue ones and could feel a smile come onto my face. "Morning." I greeted. I saw him smile and this time it wasn't a smirk but an actual smile. "You should getup now." I heard him say. I groaned and closed my eyes again. "You have school today. And I bet someone will come looking for you soon if you don't get to your bus soon." He said. "Must you always speak reason?" I mumbled grumpily but got up from the couch anyway. I began to shuffle towards my room but just before I left I stopped. "W-will you see me after s-school?" I asked him. "I'll see you before then." He said. I looked at him confused. "You'll see. Go ahead and go to school." He said. I gave him one more confused glance and then went to get ready.

~Normal POV~

While Amu was getting ready Ikuto chara changed with Yoru who had just come in and made his way to Amus school. Amu finally got her uniform on and was about to leave when she spotted her eggs. She thought for a moment then decided to bring them with her and carefully put them in a secret pocket. She checked her watch. 'I better hurry.' She thought and ran to her bus.

As Amu arrived at school she spotted Rima by the gate looking for her. Amu ran and dragged Rima away before Anika and Aiko spotted her. "What do you need?" Amu asked. " I need to ask about you and Ikuto." Rima said making Amu blush as she thought about what happened last night. "You're blushing really badly." Rima said surprised. "So its true? You and Ikuto are actually going out?" Rima asked. "Well we weren't together when I told the guardians we were, but last night…" Amu trailed off. Rima got the hint. "When did you two become so close?" Rima asked. "When my family was murdered I was depressed and was going to start cutting myself but Ikuto found me and stopped me before I could start and then he helped me get through it." Amu explained quickly. "Amu that's-" Rima started but couldn't go on, shocked to hear about what her friend was going to do. Suddenly Rima hugged Amu tightly. "Amu I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you." Rima said as Amu hugged her back. "Its okay. Its not your fault." Amu comforted.

"I'm just glad that you're okay." Rima said finally letting go of Amu. Amu smiled at her. "Ami!" Amu heard someone call. "I gotta go. Anikas calling." Amu said waved goodbye to Rima and ran to Anika and Aiko. "Ami!" Aiko exclaimed happily. "Where were you?" Anika asked. "I…got lost." Ami lied and Anika smiled. "Just stick with us. We pretty much already learnt our way around here." Anika said. The bell went for school to begin and they all ran to class.

~Lunch Time~

Amu had felt like someone had been watching her ever since she had entered the classroom and as she caught the constant looks from Tadase she easily guessed the feeling was coming from him. As she walked towards a place covered in trees so that she could eat her lunch in peace She caught sight of the not so well hidden guardians. 'Why are they spying on me?' Amu thought. 'Probably to make sure I am not the enemy.' Amu decided. "Hey." Amu heard someone call out to her. She looked in the direction of the voice.

"Ikuto? What are you doing here?" Amu asked surprised that he was at her school. He smirked and walked over top her. "Can't I see my girlfriend?" He asked smugly. Amu leaned in to whisper into his ear. "The guardians are spying on me." Amu whispered to him. "All the better." He said and pressed his lips to hers. She leaned into the kiss savoring every moment. Ikuto pulled away and pulled her into his chest. Normally she would blush but this time she leaned her head against his chest and closed her eyes contentedly.

Ikuto layed his head atop hers also enjoying the closeness. "You know that the guardians are still watching right?" He asked amused. Suddenly Amus eyes opened wide and a blush burst onto her cheeks." I-I forgot." She stuttered. "Your cute when you blush." Ikuto breathed into her ear making her blush harder. "Too cute to resist." He said and once again pressed his lips to hers although this time it was more passionate as their tongues battled each other for dominance. Ikuto won and began to explore her mouth as Amu ran her hands through his silky hair as they again forgot about the watching guardians.

They both pulled away and Ikuto lovingly kissed her forehead. "I have to go now but I will see you after school." He told her. "Okay see you then." Amu said and waved goodbye as he walked off. She began to walk back to school to spend the rest of lunch with Aiko and Anika who were most likely wondering where she was. As she passed the place where the guardians were hiding she got an idea and stopped. "You might want to work on your spying skills." She said coldly out loud so that they would hear her and then continued walking away while the guardians cursed to themselves that they had been found out.

"Darn she saw us!" Tadase said angrily. "Calm down king." Calmed Nagehiko. "They are really serious." Said Rima blushing. "Y-yah." Yaya said also blushing. "What's wrong with you two? Why are you blushing?" Tadase asked. "They kissed." Rima stated and blushed harder. "Really passionately." Yaya added. Tadase suddenly realized what they had been watching and began to blush a little himself. He had been too busy glaring at Ikuto to realize what he and Ami had been doing. "Y-your right." Tadase said. "You're blushing?" Nagehiko asked mildly amused. "Its embarrassing to see people kissing." Tadase defended himself. "Really? I think its romantic." Nagehiko said with a dreamy look.

"C'mon lets go back." Tadase said. "We'll try again after school and spy on her when she goes to the orphanage." Tadase told them. "Why don't we leave her alone? I doubt that she is the enemy." Rima said slightly panicking that they would find out. "Just today we will continue to spy on her and if she does nothing to raise suspicion we will leave her be." Tadase explained.

The bell rang for lunch to end and all the students started towards they classes. Amu sat in her seat and waited for the teacher to come back and start the lesson when she noticed Rima come in and make her way towards her desk. She secretly handed Amu a piece of paper and Amu looked around to see no one had noticed, she looked back at Rima who was looking in the other direction. Amu unfolded the paper and began to read the writing on it.

Ami,

Tadase and the guardians have planned to follow you after school and spy on you at the orphanage. I tried to stop them but it didn't work but they did say that if you don't do anything suspicious they would stop tomorrow.

Rima

p.s Nice job with Ikuto:)

Amu blushed at the last part as she remembered that they had watched them. She didn't want the guardians spying on her at the orphanage, it was the only place she could relax and have fun. Plus Aiko and Anika had just recently discovered that Amu only had her façade on at school and it would look odd for her to have it on at the orphanage. She had to think of a way to stop them from getting there. The teacher came in and began the lesson as Amu thought of ways to stop the guardians.

Before Amu could think of any plan that actually could work the bell rang signaling the end of the school day. She slowly packed up her things and walked to the bus, which had just arrived. She walked over to Aiko and Anika who were at the back of the line waiting for her. "Hey Ami." They greeted." "Hey." She replied as they shuffled forward and looked around to see if Ikuto had come yet. They got on the bus and Amu had to sit in the front seat while Aiko and Anika sat in the seat before her. 'Too bad I couldn't think of a way to stop them.' Amu thought. The worker marked everyone's names on the roll then turned to discuss something with the bus driver and Amu got an idea.

'If I cant get them to not follow me then I wont go to the orphanage.' Amu decided and checked to see that no one was paying her any attention and quietly slipped behind the worker. She jumped off the bus then hid behind a tree until she saw the bus pull away. 'I'm gonna be in big trouble when I get back.' Amu thought. As Amu walked out from behind the tree again noticed the badly hidden guardians. "Sorry I'm late." Amu heard and saw Ikuto coming. "They are still spying on you." Ikuto whispered as he spotted the guardians. Amu nodded and Ikuto let out a low growl. "What's wrong?" Amu asked concerned. "Those guardians are beginning to get on my nerves." He said angrily. "Don't worry. Rima said that they would stop tomorrow if nothing suspicious happened." Amu explained. "Rima? She knows?" Ikuto asked. "She figured it out." She replied.

"Why didn't you get on the bus?" Ikuto asked. "I didn't want them to spy on me somewhere where I can be myself. Plus Kanoko might think no one is around and call the wrong name." Amu said plainly with a sad face, whispering the last part so the guardians wouldn't hear her. Ikuto leaned down and but her ear. "What did you do that for?!" Amu yelled with an angry look while clutching her ear. "Getting that sad look off your face." He replied matter of factly. "Since you have free time, why don't we go on a date?" Ikuto suggested. Amu blushed at the thought of her an Ikuto's first date. "S-sure." She agreed happily. Ikuto smirked and began to walk off. "Hey!" Amu called and caught up with him so they walked side by side.

"Where are we going?" Amu asked. "I am going to take you shopping." He said. "Really?!" Amu shouted excitedly. Ikuto smirked and nodded. Amu as busy thinking about what to buy when Ikuto intertwined his hand with hers making Amu smiled happily. They slowly walked to the mall happy to be in each other's company although nothing on their faces showed any emotion.

When they got to the shopping center Amu wanted to run around and look at everything but remembered that the guardians were there and kept her uncaring façade going. Amu and Ikuto strolled around window-shopping and Amu had just about given up on finding anything that she wanted to buy when they looked into a jewellery store and Amus widened when she saw the perfect piece of jewellery. It was simple but beautiful and Amu couldn't look away. It was a gold chain bracelet with 4 diamonds spaced evenly along the chain. The 4 diamonds were shaped like a clover. Spade, heart and diamond (a/n I couldn't think of another word.) She saw the price and was immediately disappointed. 'Its way too expensive.' She thought sadly.

Ikuto noticed Amu staring at a bracelet with diamonds on it and saw her face drop as she saw the price. "Wanna go get something to eat?" Ikuto said as he got an idea. "Sure. I am kinda getting hungry." Amu said. They started leaving Ikuto pretended to frantically check his pockets. "I think I dropped something. I'll go back and look for it, you go ahead." Ikuto urged. "You sure?" Amu asked as Ikuto nodded in reply. "Kay." Amu said and headed towards the food court.

Ikuto smirked when she turned her back to him and he went back to the jewellery store. He went up to the counter. "Excuse me miss." He called and the shopping assistant turned her attention to him. "Yes?" She questioned. "I am interested in that bracelet in the window." He said and pointed to the bracelet that Amu had been staring at. She took it out and gave him a better look at it. "Perfect. I'll take it." He said. "Very well sir. That will be $300?" The lady said. Ikuto took out his wallet and handed her his credit card. 'Nothings too expensive for Tsukiyomi Ikuto.' He thought to himself smugly. " Would you like it wrapped?" The lady asked. "Yes please." He replied courteously. He waited as the lady finished wrapping Amu's present and came back with her present and handed him back his card. "Have a nice day." She said and Ikuto left with his present for Amu.

When he exited the store he put the present in his pocket when he heard the last sound that he wanted to hear. "Ikuto!" He heard his little sister shout and felt someone clinging to his arm. "Utau." He said coldly and looked at her. "Can't you be happy to see me? I've been gone for a while." She said pouting. "I know. Why are you here?" He asked. "Well I got back yesterday and I felt like shopping today." Utau said and Ikuto rolled his eyes. "Let go Utau. I have to go." Ikuto said trying to push Utau off of him. "Lets go together!" Utau said excitedly "I'm with someone." He told her bluntly. "What?!" Utau shouted getting an evil aura. "Is it a girl?" Utau asked and Ikuto nodded. Utau got flames in her eyes. "Bring me to her." She demanded. Ikuto knew he would have to take her because she would just follow him anyway if he refused." C'mon lets go." He sighed.

~With Amu~

Amu was sitting at a table in the food court waiting patiently for Ikuto. "May I sit here?" A boy asked Amu. Amu didn't want to be rude so she just nodded and hoped Ikuto wouldn't mind. "Hello." He said sweetly with a smile. "Hi." Amu replied shortly. "My names Kanari Akame." He introduced. "Umm. I'm Ami Kisumi." She replied wondering why he was talking to her although he seemed nice. "Nice to meet you." He said and smiled wider. Soon Amu and Kanari began talking and soon were both laughing and joking with each other.

~With Ikuto~

Ikuto walked with Utau still on his arm and arrived at the food court. He looked around for Amu and finally spotted but immediately grew angry when he saw another guy sitting with her and it wasn't just any guy, it was Kanari Akame. 'What is my babysitter doing here?' he thought angrily. He stormed up to them completely forgetting about Utau for the moment who was confused at his sudden anger.

"Why are you here?" Ikuto gritted through his teeth. "Oh. Ikuto! What a pleasant surprise!" Kanari said happily. "I just came to pass the time. When I decided to talk to this charming young lady." He explained looking at Amu when he said the last part making her blush and getting Ikuto angrier. "Your sitting with my girlfriend." He seethed and heard a gasp coming from Utau. He looked at Amu to see she had noticed Utau and was staring at her in shock after not seeing her for so long while Utau stared at Amu with the hate obvious in her eyes. "Girlfriend?" Utau said ready to explode. "We've haven't been dating long. Something just happened and we came together" Ikuto explained. "Something?" Utau asked. "Yes. It has something to do with Amu." He said. "What happened to Amu?" Utau asked worriedly. "Later." Ikuto whispered to her. She looked at him pleading with her eyes for him to tell her now but he gave her a firm look telling her it was his final decision. "Fine." Utau mumbled and returned to glaring at Amu hatefully. 'Crap! i can't give her the bracelet now.' Ikuto thought. 'I will just have to give it to her when we're alone.' he decided.

"I know that you don't like me." Kanari spoke unexpectedly and everyone looked at him as he looked at Ikuto. "I hope that we can be friends." He finished. Ikuto stared at him wondering if it was a trick. "Sure." He said still uneasy but willing to see what happened. "Great." Kanari said. Suddenly everyone heard a loud grumbling noise and they turned to Amu who had a sheepish look on her face. "Guess I got really hungry." She said. Kanari smiled. "Lunch is on me." He said. Everyone nodded and went to get their food.

The whole time they ate Utau was glaring at Amu. They finished eating but stayed where they were and chatted with each other until Amu noticed it was getting late. "Ikuto." She said tugging at his sleeve. He turned to her and she pointed to the clock in the middle of the food court and realized that it was getting late and Amu needed to get back. "Well it's getting late. We'll be off." Ikuto told Utau and Kanari. "Why are you going with her?" Utau asked giving Amu an evil look. "I'm helping her." He replied bluntly and tried to leave with Amu before Utau asked any more questions. "Helping?" Utau asked quickly knowing he was trying to escape. Ikuto sighed and turned around. "She just lost her family. I am giving her company." Ikuto said angry that Utau kept asking questions. Utaus jaw dropped.

Ikuto felt a tug at his arm and looked to see Amu with her bangs covering her eyes and holding his sleeve. "Lets go now." She whispered, Ikuto put his arm around her waist and they walked off. Utau looked at Kanari. "Thanks for the meal. I am going to take my leave now." She said. "Bye." Kanari said and gave a little wave as she walked off. When she was out of sight he got out his cell phone and began dialing. "Hello?" someone from the other end answered. "Its Kanari. I have some interesting information for you. It seems that Ikuto has gotten a girlfriend." Kanari told Kazuomi. "Very good. Come here and fill me in immediately." Came the reply. "Yes director." Kanari said obediently, left the mall and headed towards Easter ignorant to the fact that he was being watched.

"Did you hear that?" Yaya asked the rest. "Yeah. Easter didn't even know about Ami." Rima said. "So she definitely doesn't work for Easter." Tadase said with a thoughtful look. "So I guess there's no reason to spy on her anymore." Rima said. "Yeah." Tadase said. While the guardians talked their charas were having their own discussion. "You guys felt that right?" Kiseki asked and the rest nodded. "She had 3 eggs." Pepe said. "They felt familiar." Kiseki noted. Kusu Kusu was getting worried. She had to think of a way to keep the fact that Amu was alive a secret and if they figured it out it could mean trouble. She tried but couldn't think quickly enough and decided what to do, hoping Rima wouldn't be angry with her afterwards. Kusu Kusu motioned for everyone to lean in and explained the situation. She tried to make them stay quiet but the news was just too big. "WHAT?" They all shouted. She desperately tried to keep them quiet but it was too late and they had caught the guardian's attention. "What's wrong?" Tadase asked the charas. Kiseki flew to him and shouted. "Amu is-"

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I tried to think of a good way to end it but i am not really pleased with this one.... ANYWAY! Hope you liked chapter 10!

PLZ R&R!


	11. Authors Note

Hey, I know its been like… a while. Almost 2 years…. Anyway just thought that I would let people know (if anyone is actually still reading this at all) that I'm really sorry for not updating in so long and that I have chapter 11 all written up I just need to type it. Should be out either tonight or tomorrow. Most likely tomorrow. This story will be finished but I am also trying not to do a rush ending so just bear with me. I kinda just got writers block and then just lost interest in the anime… still support the couple but I moved on. Can't leave the fic unfinished though so even if people aren't reading this I will still finish it!


	12. Make it official

Okay so (finally) here is chapter 12 :D

Natsuki: Why am i here?  
kXa: To protect me. Its been so long i need protection from angry readers...  
Natsuki: Fine... *stands in front of kXa protectively*  
Ikuto: I hate you..  
kXa: Not when you read this chapter :P  
Ikuto: Alright get on with it, kXa doesn't own shugo chara...

"Amu is alive!" Kiseki shouted making the guardians stare at him. While the guardians were distracted Kusu kusu quickly spoke to the other charas. "Pretend you don't know what he is talking about, I will explain later." Kusu kusu begged. The other charas were still confused but nodded anyway. "Kiseki, please be quiet and don't bring up that subject." Tadase said close to tears.

"Buts it true! This peasant just told me!" Kiseki defended and pointed to Kusu kusu. The guardians turned their attention to Kusu kusu who put on a confused face. Realization suddenly dawned on Rima's face obviously just figuring out what her chara had done and began glaring at her.

Kusu kusu continued to look confused. "Why would I say that?" She asked. "They heard you!" Kiseki shouted and motioned to the other chara's who just shrugged and shook their heads. "C'mon Kiseki, it looks like you need to get some fresh air."

Kusu kusu suggested. "We'll take him." Pepe told the guardians who watched them fly away. "That was…random?" Nagihiko said confused. "Amu." Yaya croaked starting to cry. "Its okay Yaya." Tadase whispered. "Lets go get some ice cream." Nagihiko suggested. They solemnly shuffled outside to the ice cream stand.

"Yo guys!" the guardians heard and looked to see Kuukai waving at them. "Hey Kuukai!" Tadase shouted excitedly. Everyone except Yaya immediately perked up and smiled as Kuukai came towards them. "Hey." He said as he got to the group. "Hey." They all said at the same time. "Umm. Can I talk to Yaya for a moment?" He asked scratching his head.

"Sure!" Yaya said fakely happy and walked off with Kuukai. When they were out of hearing range Kuukai immediately became serious. "So Yaya. What do you say?" Kuukai asked. Yaya knew what he was referring to and was incredibly nervous. "Your Yaya's best friend but…. Kuukai will only be Yaya's best friend. Yaya isn't ready for love." Yaya told him with a sad look on her face.

She looked at Kuukai who had his head down, his hair covering his face. "Okay. If that's how you feel." His voice sounded like it was forced. "Excuse me." He said and walked away. Yaya didn't try to stop him. She hoped that he would get over it quickly; she didn't like seeing him sad.

Yaya walked back to the confused guardians. "Where is Kuukai?" Tadase asked. "He suddenly remembered something he had to do." Yaya said. "That's too bad." Nagihiko said. "Lets go get our ice cream now." Rima said, knowing why Kuukai had left and that Yaya would need something to cheer her up.

As they made their way to the ice cream stand Rima slipped a comforting arm around Yaya's shoulders. Yaya smiled gratefully at Rima. "It'll be okay." Rima whispered into her ear. "I know! Things always get better!" Yaya replied getting back to her old self.

~With Amu~

Amu took a big breath as she walked through the doors of the orphanage. When she opened the doors she saw some workers running around looking frantic and noticed Kanoko was one of them. "Kanoko!" Amu called out to her making Kanoko turn around quickly. "Ami!" She yelled turning from frantic to relieved. "Where were you!"

She cried as she ran to Amu and hugged her tightly. "I got off the bus and went into town." Amu confessed sheepishly. "We were all so worried!" She said and squeezed Amu tighter. "Thank god your safe." She said into Amu's ear. 'She reminds me of a mother.' Amu thought to herself and felt a strange surge of affection towards Kanoko. Kanoko was surprised when she felt Amu hugging her back just as strongly.

"Ami?" Kanoko said questioningly, surprised that Amu was hugging her. She heard Amu sniffling, indicating that Amu was crying. "What's wrong?" She asked the small girl softly while rubbing her back in a comforting gesture. "You just reminded me of my mother. Instead of being angry you were concerned."

Amu told her. Kanoko leaned down and whispered to her in a threatening tone. "I may have been concerned but you are still in trouble. Lots of trouble." Amu looked up at Kanoko and started laughing. Kanoko was confused but soon joined in and began to laugh as well.

When they finally stopped laughing Kanoko took Amu's arm and led her to the office, where she lectured Amu about the dangers of going off alone without telling anyone. Amu knew that if she did it again she would get a harsher punishment than just a lecture.

'And technically I wasn't alone, but they don't need to know that.' She thought. She left the office grateful that she didn't get in too much trouble. Amu suddenly fell forward, having been tackled from behind.

"Where did you go?" Amu heard Aiko's voice shout from her back. "Sorry I left you guys. I just…wanted to go to town." Amu said lamely. "We're glad that your back." Aiko said getting off of Amu's back and Anika helped Amu stand back up. Amu could tell that they didn't believe her but they didn't say anything and she was extremely grateful for that.

"Time for bed!" the worker called, herding the children to their rooms. "Aww. Aiko wanted to play with Ami." Aiko pouted. "It's okay Aiko, we'll play tomorrow." Anika said looking at Amu who confirmed it with a nod. "Okay! Let's sleep so tomorrow comes quicker!" Aiko said excitedly.

Amu smiled at her friends' antics as she watched Aiko dragging a struggling Anika to their room. She walked away towards her room. When she left Ikuto he promised her he would be waiting in her room with a special surprise, she couldn't wait to find out what it was..

She entered her room to find Ikuto laying on her bed, head supported on his hand. "You have a very comfortable bed kitten." He told her. He smirked as he saw Amu become flustered and blush. "W-what kind of name i-is kitten? And get off my bed pervert!" She yelled at him.

"Would you like to see the surprise?" He changed the subject. Amu was surprised for a moment before she forgot about how embarrassed she was and nodded. "Ikuto reached into the pocket in his black jacket and pulled out a wrapped box. The wrapping was dark red with a silky black bow tied around it. He beckoned Amu closer and she quickly complied. She sat down beside him and he handed her the present.

Amu slowly opened the package making sure not to rip the paper too much. It was so pretty that she didn't want to ruin it. When all the paper was gone she was looking at a black leather box. She slowly opened it and gasped when she saw it was the bracelet that she had been admiring earlier that day.

Ikuto was practically beaming as he saw the amazement in Amu's eyes. He slowly took the bracelet out of its packaging and took Amu's left wrist to clasp it on to. "Amu, I know we are together now but I want to ask properly. Will you be my girlfriend?" Ikuto looked at Amu with some apprehension in her eyes. When they had confessed to each other they just assumed they were a couple but he wanted to make it official.

Amu was so happy she had no idea what to say. She slowly nodded as the shock started to wear off. Not only did Ikuto officially ask her to be his girlfriend but she had also seen the price of the bracelet and knew that it was extremely expensive. She had no idea how Ikuto had the money but decided to keep silent, not wanting to ruin the moment.

Ikuto beamed larger when Amu had nodded her head. Ikuto was suddenly attacked by Amu as she lunged at him. He barely had a second to think before Amu's lips were upon his giving him quick light kisses. Amu snuggled her face into his neck, embarrassed at her enthusiasm. Ikuto chuckled lightly and held her to him, giving her a loving kiss on to of her head.

They snuggled for a long time, basking in the bliss of being an official couple. They talked about anything and everything; it didn't matter to them at the moment. They were in their own world and nothing existed outside of it for the moment, which was until Ikuto's phone pierced the silence.

Ikuto growled at the offending piece of technology and Amu giggled as she fished his phone out of his pocket for him. He took it from her and flipped it open. "Hello?" He answered it. "Ikuto. I need you at Easter immediately." Kazuomi's voice ordered coldly. "Alright, I will be on my way." He replied in an annoyed tone.

Ikuto closed the phone and returned it back to his pocket. He cuddled into Amu for a moment more before sighing heavily. "I have to leave now." Ikuto told her and placed a chaste kiss on her lips. "Easter?" She asked and received a nod from him. "Be safe." She whispered and looked down embarrassed.

He smirked at her. "Worried about me? I'm a big boy I can take care of myself." Amu blushed harder. "S-shut u-up!" She yelled. He laughed and made his way to her window, chara changing with Yoru on his way. He gave Amu a small wave and leapt out into the night, heading towards the Easter building.

~With Kazuomi~

"I have called Ikuto here. Whilst I keep him busy you will gain that girls trust and if it's the right time…you may finish her." Kazuomi told Kanari Akame who was standing in front of the boss's large desk in a stiff stance. He bowed to the man. "Yes sir." Kanari replied, an evil smile plastered on his face.

Kanari turned and left the room quickly. He was sure that the plan would be able to go down tonight. He was sure that he had already gained some trust from her when they had lunch together. He knew she was at the orphanage and so headed there straight away.

He had done his research and so when he arrived at the orphanage knew exactly which room she was staying at and where the window was. He searched around for some small pebbles and lightly chucked them at her window. After a few throws he saw her at the window before she opened it.

It was so dark that she couldn't see who was down below. "Hello?" She called out, trying to figure out who was there. "Ami!" Kanari called out, making her gaze go to his direction. "Its Kanari. We met earlier at the mall!" He whisper shouted up at her, trying not to wake the other occupants in the building.

Her face looked thoughtful before realization dawned in her eyes. "Yes I remember!…. But why are you here?" "I need to talk to you. Its about Easter!" He knew that she would come if she thought it might affect Ikuto. "I cant get out!" She called back to him. He thought for a second before calling out to her. "Jump. I'll catch you."

"A-are you crazy?" She looked at the drop and if he didn't catch her she would get seriously hurt. After another moment of hesitation she released a sigh. 'Why not?' She thought and put her legs dangling over the edge. Closing her eyes and holding her breath she slid down into a freefall.

She let out a small squeak as she felt herself being caught in a strong pair of arms. She opened her eyes and was now able to see him properly. "You know… you're actually very light." He said with a smile making Amu laugh. "Ikuto would say the exact opposite."

"I think we should go somewhere safer to talk. Just in case." He told her. He set her down and began leading her away to his planned destination. 'Somewhere where there is no witnesses. Tonight I will finish the job.' He thought with an evil glint in his eye.

~With Ikuto~

Arriving at the Easter building Ikuto felt a shiver down his spine. He had a strange feeling but just shook it off as he entered the large double glass sliding doors into the dreaded building. He walked straight past the receptionist and went right up to Kazuomi's office.

He opened the dark wood doors without knocking to find Kazuomi smirking at him. "I'm glad you came." Kazuomi started. "I have received information that an egg that will surely be the embryo is in this area." Kazuomi pointed to a section of the large map in front of him.

"I want you to go there tonight before those guardians have a chance to snatch it." Kazuomi watched Ikuto's face turned surprised before reverting back to his normal cold self. "This will take me at least two hours to go there, search for the egg and come back." Ikuto told him, seeing as the area the egg was in was so far away.

Not only was it far away it was way out in the country. "It doesn't matter. We want that egg and you must get it tonight." Ikuto heaved a deep sigh. His plans with staying with Amu that night were now ruined. 'Stupid Easter.' He thought to himself and left out the wooden doors he had come through.

As Ikuto left Kazuomi smiled in glee. His plan on keeping Ikuto away for the night was successful. 'Oh you naive boy. Lets see how things work out once that little girl is out of the way once and for all' Kazuomi thought.

~With Amu~

"Where are we?" Amu asked as Kanari lead her along a dirt path amongst a forest. "You will see it in a second." Kanari told her and kept silent until Amu saw a little house up ahead. "It will be safer to talk here." Kanari told her. It was a medium sized lodge house with a wrap around porch and a gravel pathway leading up to it. Kanari motioned for Amu to go up the stapes leading to the balcony and he followed behind her.

When she reached the porch she heard cursing and scuffling behind her and quickly turned around to see Kanari was pinned down by Aiko and Anika, their charas circling angrily around the group. "What are you guys doing?" Amu asked them. "Look at this." Anika held up a need;e filled with a clear liquid. At Amu's confused face she gestured to Kanari. Amu made the connection between the two and looked at the struggling Kanari.

"What were you going to do to me?" Amu asked, a little frightened by the thought that if Aiko and Anika weren't there who knows what would have happened? Kanari didn't answer and just kept struggling to get out from under her two friends.

"Get off me you fatty's!" He yelled out to them. Anika glared at him with intense hatred in her eyes and Aiko grabbed the nearest branch, whacking him over the head with hit. When the branch connected with his head he stopped struggling and passed out. "Whoops." Aiko said in a tone of voice that showed no remorse.

Amu stared at them like they were insane. "Um.. okay. How did you guys get here?" She asked them as the got up from their position top Kanari's body. Aiko dusted her hands off and leapt up the steps to glomp Amu. "We followed you." Anika said and came up the stairs much more calmly than Aiko.

~Flashback AIKO Pov~

I popped more candy into my mouth. 'Hehehe, Anika will be annoyed that I found the candy she hid from me.' I thought and hummed happily. Anika walked into the room and i saw her face turning into a horrified expression as I swallowed the last piece.

I smiled at her, knowing she wouldn't get any sleep tonight. I wouldn't let her, I wanted to play. My smile grew as I felt the sugar rush begin to kick in and leapt off of my bed. Anika grabbed my arm quickly and snuck us outside.

"You need to tire yourself out. I don't want you ruining our room." She told me. I nodded and began running around in circles. 'Sugar!' I screamed in my head. I ran behind the building and saw Ami falling into someone's arms.

He began to walk away and Ami followed after him. 'Hmm, I wonder what that's about?' I ran back to Anika. "Conspiracy!" I yelled at her as I ran past her. "Conspiracy? What are you talking about?" She asked me.

'Who mentioned anything about a conspiracy?' I thought. Anika was weird. Anika sighed when I didn't answer and I just ignored her, hopping around like a bunny. 'I'm a bunny rabbit.' I kept repeating that over and over until I remembered something.

"Hey Anika. Where's Ami going?" She looked at me confused. "What do you mean?" She asked. "She left with a strange man." I told her and began to spin around. 'Twirling is fuuun!' "What!" I heard a shout beside me and stopped my spinning.

I turned to Anika whose eyes were really wide. "C'mon we have to go follow her! Which way did she go?" I pointed to the direction that I had seen Ami going in with that boy. Anika grabbed my hand and started running in that direction, our charas following silently behid.

I ran faster and scooped her up in my arms making her scream. "You're a turtle! Slowpoke!" I shouted. I spotted Ami and the boy walking just ahead of us. I jumped into the buses making Anika fall off my back and heard her land on the ground with a grunt.

I turned and saw her glaring at me. I gave her my best smile and returned to watching Ami and the boy. Humming the mission impossible theme tune I followed the two with Anika behind me.

'I am a ninja. Silent. No one can see me.' I told myself whilst doing forward rolls and crouching behind bushes, my hands in the shape of a gun. We had been walking for a while and my sugar high was beginning to wear off. 'Is Ami going on a play date with him? If it were a play date it is quite late, they would need snacks to keep them awake. Maybe there will be cake?'

"Mmm cake." I said aloud. "Cake? What does any of this have to do with cake?" I heard Anika asked me. I just shrugged at her and went back to being a ninja. No more distractions. Distractions are fatal for a ninja.

I spotted a house that was all alone, no other houses around it. It must be a very lonely house. Amu was walking up the steps of the house when the boy behind her pulled out a needle. Luckily we were close enough to not only see the needle but to attack him as well.

I heard Anika gasp behind me a second before we both sprinted towards the strange boy. I was still on my sugar high and reached the boy first so I tackled him to the ground. He began trying to fight me off and kept cursing but Anika was right behind me and helped me pin him to the ground.

~End of Flashback~

"Why did you follow me?" Amu asked them after hearing their story. "Your our friend. We were worried about you of course!" Aiko exclaimed and finally let Amu go. Amu felt that surge of affection again like when she had felt it with Kanoko, she hadn't really appreciated how good her friends were.

Anika walked up to Kanari. "What are we going to do with him?" She asked as she nudged his unconscious form. Amu and Aiko turned to look at him. "Lets take him inside and see if we can tie him up." Amu replied and went to help Anika carry him.

Aiko helped Anika take his top half while Amu carried his legs. They dragged him inside; their charas close behind and set him upon a wooden chair. Amu noticed that everything was wooden, the walls and even the furniture. It was quite roomy even though it was just one big room and had a large soft rug in the middle of the floor.

The kitchen area was in one corner with a door next to it that Amu assumed led to the bathroom. Amu looked around trying to find some rope but there didn't seem to be any around. Aiko suddenly jumped in front of her holding a long length of rope.

"Aiko has something to tie him up with!" she shouted excitedly. "Great. Where did you get it?" Amu asked her. "I had it with me." Aiko replied like it was perfectly normal to carry rope around with you at all times.

Anika didn't look surprised either. Amu just left the subject alone, deciding she didn't really want to know. She didn't even want to know where Aiko had kept it without anyone seeing it either. Amu went to stand next to Anika, whose chara was sitting on her shoulder, filing her nails and watched Aiko tie up Kanari.

"Good job as always." Anika told Aiko once she had finished. 'As always? Do they do this kind of thing often?' Amu thought, a little frightened but once again didn't try to question further. After a few moments of awkward silence where no one knew what to do next a loud moan was heard.

Everyone turned to Kanari whose hands began twitching as he slowly awakened. Maki came floating out from behind him, an empty tiny syringe in her hand. "I gave him something to wake him up." She said with a small smile and headed back towards Aiko.

He released another groan before his eyes fluttered open. He looked around sleepily before his eyes snapped open. His mind raced as he tried to figure out what had happened, everything was kind of blurry.

"What's going on?" He asked, his voice still a little groggy. "You tried to hurt Ami!" Aiko screamed at him and started punching him in the stomach. "Aiko stop!" Amu ran up and held her back, although Aiko's arms kept flailing around trying to hit their target.

Piper watched amusedly from Anika's shoulder as Aiko's chara was furiously hitting Kanari but doing no damage. "I don't see why you made her stop." Anika mumbled. "What did you say?" Amu asked, not having heard her properly.

"Nothing." Anika replied, looking slightly disappointed. Amu released Aiko once she had calmed down and began to pace, not knowing what should be done in this situation. Whilst Amu was distracted Anika caught Aiko's eye and motioned for her to continue hitting him.

Aiko grinned evilly and joined her chara in hitting him. He cried out in pain and Amu turned towards the source of the noise. "Aiko!" She cried out in exasperation. "Anika why don't you stop her?" Amu asked Anika who had a satisfied smile on her face.

Amu went to once again grab Aiko but this time Aiko grabbed Kanari's cheeks. When Amu pulled her back Kanari's cheeks were stretched and he cried out once more in pain. Anika decided that she should pull Amu off of Aiko so Aiko could continue punishing Kanari and puled Amu back as well.

Piper looked on in embarrassment for her chara holder as she looked at the scene. Kanari was leaning forward calling out in pain with his cheeks stretching because of Aiko's hold and Amu leaning back her arms wrapped around Aiko's middle trying to pull her off with Anika grabbing Amu's shirt and pulling.

This went on for a few seconds when the door flew open and they all fell backwards with Kanari stuck in his chair and landing on his face. "What is going on here?" Asked the new person at the door. Amu looked up and gasped in disbelief. Why were they here?

Well i hope everyone enjoyed that. Not sure how i did after so long so R&R. Chapter 13 will definitely be up quicker than this one was.


	13. Infatuation

**So this chapter is a little short but i was taking a little long and decided i would give this to you so you would have something to go on. And a big thanks to the ppl who reveiwed/alerted/favorited :D **

**Ikuto: Hey look your back before 2 years. yippee**  
**kXa: No need for your sarcasm Ikuto I control you in this story.**  
**Ikuto: Fine whatever, lets get on with it. kXa doesn't own shugo chara**

Kuukai left Yaya with a heavy heart, Daichi following silently behind him. He knew he took a chance by confessing his feelings towards her but he didn't know that rejection would hurt so much. He held no hard feelings towards her and hoped that by confessing he hadn't ruined their friendship.

The day was hot and he went to sit down on a bench that the park he had wandered into provided. Someone was already sitting at the one he was heading to and he thought he recognized her. He stood before the familiar blonde haired girl trying to remember where he had seen her before.

The girl was sniffling and it was then that Kuukai realized that the girl was crying. "Are you okay miss?" He asked softly, giving up on trying to remember. She looked up and stared at him with puffy red eyes.

"Utau?" He recognized her the moment he saw her face even though she was wearing her disguise so she wouldn't be recognized.. "Your…. Kuukai?" Utau asked unsurely, her voice broken from crying. "Yeah. What's wrong?" He asked her, sitting down beside her. She frowned and put her head down. He then noticed her charas flying around her worriedly looking at her.

"My stupid brother doesn't understand my feelings. I left for a while and he got himself a girlfriend." Utau was also slightly confused as she didn't feel too bad about it as much as the other times a girl got close to Ikuto. Part of the reason she was crying was because she was confused as to why she didn't mind.

'Do I not love Ikuto anymore?' She thought, but brushed it away. Utau didn't know why she was telling these things to Kuukai but she really needed to talk to somebody and when she had met him before he had seemed nice and reliable.

Kuukai kind of understood how she felt, being rejected by the person that you like. He didn't understand how she could feel like that for her brother but he didn't judge her for it.

He knew that you couldn't help whom you love and some of the time you loved someone you wish you didn't. He didn't say anything and hesitantly put his arm around her. He could sense that she needed comfort but he knew that some people didn't like being touched.

When Utau felt Kuukai's arm snake around her neck she was grateful that he didn't say anything. She didn't want to talk right now; she just needed a comforting presence. She leant against him happy for the comforting warmth he gave off.

Kuukai looked down at her as she subconsciously nestled against him. His cheeks grew slightly warm but he was unaware of this as he thought how nice it felt to comfort others. Utau's and Kuukai's charas looked at each other and grinned at the sight before them. "Ah, love." Eru sighed out dreamily. The two chara owners remained silent for a few minutes until Kuukai's stomach made a loud grumbling noise.

Utau looked at his stomach before moving up to his face, which had a sheepish smile planted on it. She let out a tiny scoff at his behavior. "Do you like ramen?" Kuukai asked her. Utau's eyes narrowed. "I love ramen. I could eat more than even a boy like you." Utau told Kuukai matter of factly.

Kuukai smiled widely. "I accept your challenge! And if you lose then you have to pay for it. So I would get your wallet ready." He told her cockily. Utau's eyes narrowed at him. "Is that a threat?" She asked suspiciously. "It's a promise." He said. "Let's go!" The charas yelled together and fist pumped the air.

Kuukai grabbed Utau's hand. "DASH!" He yelled and dragged Utau full speed towards his favorite ramen restaurant their charas furiously trying to keep up with them. When he got to the front of the shop and stopped running with Utau puffing behind him Utau snatched her hand away giving him a killer glare.

"Your gonna get it." She grumbled and entered the shop. They both ordered their favorite ramen and told the owner to keep them coming. Glaring at each other with fire in their eyes and cocky smirks on their faces Kuukai counted down.

"3.2.1." Kuukai began. "Go!" They said in unison and started eating their ramen as quick as they could. Each time one of them emptied their bowl another would replace it and they were keeping up with each other.

They were both on their eighth bowl when Kuukai stopped midway and watched as Utau gulped down the last of her broth. She noticed Kuukai stopped and smirked as she set her bowl down gently. With a heavy sigh Kuukai gave the owner the money for the ramen. Iru stuck her tongue out to Daichi who just chuckled and scratched the back of his head.

"I let you win you know." Kuukai said to her playfully as they exited the restaurant. "Whatever you say loser." Utau replied. They walked aimlessly together oblivious to the world around them as they talked and laughed together. The charas played together and let their holders bond.

Kuukai was a little surprised at the way Utau was smiling so easily with him. When they had first met she had seemed so cold and serious, maybe she could be a little childish around her brother but right now she seemed to be genuinely cheerful.

'Maybe its me.' He thought happily, hoping it was him that had cheered her up and made her smile like she was. He had a good feeling as he thought how nice it was to cheer people up.

They were silent for a moment but it was comfortable silence. Utau gazed at Kuukai before finally deciding to break the silence. "Earlier today when you were comforting me, you looked a bit down yourself. What happened?"

Utau had finally been able to ask him what had been on her mind since they had left the park to eat the ramen. She had asked him confidently but was worried that he might be angry at her and bit her lip nervously. She hoped she hadn't ruined things.

She was having so much fun with him that she didn't want him to be angry with her and leave. Kuukai's emotions were far from angry but his cheerful smile lessened a bit. He contemplated for a moment.

Not feeling sure if he was ready to talk about what had happened as it was a sore memory and still fresh having only happened a few hours earlier. He glanced at Utau's face and saw how nervous she was.

He didn't want her to think he didn't trust her and she had told him what was wrong with her so he decided he didn't mind her knowing. "I confessed to a girl. She rejected me. She is my best friend and I have no hard feelings but it still hurts. I just don't want things to be weird between us."

Utau turned towards him abruptly and hugged him tightly. He was shocked for a second before smiling softly and hugging her back. "It's alright. I would rather she reject me then go out with me out of pity." Kuukai told her.

"I just began thinking that, with what happened with Amu and her family, life is so short. I don't want to hold my feelings in forever." Kuukai struggled to say Amu's name and his eyes watered as he thought about his friend.

"What happened with Amu?" Utau asked panicking a little at the somber look on Kuukai's face when mentioning Amu's name. Kuukai faced her with wide eyes. "You..You don't know?" Kuukai asked in disbelief as Utau shook her head negatively.

"Amu is…" Kuukai trailed off slightly. It was very hard for him to get past the lump in his throat as he thought about the cheerful, pink haired girl who was lost forever. "Amu is dead." He finally was able to push out with a small tremor in his tone.

"Both her and her family were murdered." He said growing angry towards the end at the thought of a person killing his best friend. Utau gasped for breath and dropped to the ground. The shock was too much for her. She had acted like she hated Amu but she secretly considered Amu her friend. Iru and Eru dashed towards Utau and tried to comfort her but Utau ignored them.

"Do they know who did it?" Utau asked shakily after a long silence in which she was able to get her bearings slightly. Kuukai shook his head and the angered expression stayed there. "C'mon lets go somewhere else, somewhere more private." Kuukai suggested as he saw people staring at them and didn't want someone to recognize her even with her disguise.

Kuukai helped Utau to stand up and led her to a blocked off path where no one would stare at her and let her mourn in peace. It was dark so it would also be harder for people to spot them. He let Utau lead them along the path, letting her get her emotions straight. Their charas following them but there was a gloomier atmosphere surrounding them.

They spotted a cabin a little ways down the pathway after walking for around an hour and Utau led them to the wooden steps to sit down. She pulled Kuukai down with her and rested her head on top of Kuukai's shoulder. Kuukai felt a familiar feeling creep up on him.

He frowned at himself. He had only just gotten rejected by Yaya earlier that day and he was already beginning to have a crush on Utau. He wasn't happy with the thought that he might be one of those people whose feelings are constantly changing.

Utau was experiencing the same feelings but they were overpowered by her grief over Amu. Shouting was suddenly heard from inside the cabin and Kuukai's and Utau's heads whipped towards the door.

They looked at each other and Kuukai got up, heading towards the door. Utau quickly followed behind him and held onto the back of his shirt. She wasn't sure if she could handle any more drama and was more than glad Kuukai was there.

Kuukai opened the door just in time for four people to fall to the ground. "What's going on here?" He asked. "What are you doing here?" A black haired girl asked loudly, sounding shocked.

Kuukai's eyes turned towards the girl who had spoken and squinted at her as she looked familiar. "Amu?" He cried out with wide eyes once he saw past her disguise. "Kuukai? Utau?" Amu asked, too shocked to remember that she was in disguise.

"Amu your alive!" Utau said in disbelief and uncharacteristically lunged at her to envelope her in a hug. It took Utau a minute to suddenly remember earlier that day. "You! You were that girl with Ikuto. His girlfriend."

Utau held Amu at arms length and looked her up and down to make sure. "Why are you hiding?" Utau narrowed her eyes at Amu not even realizing that usually she would have been more upset about the fact that this was her brothers' girlfriend.

"Don't touch Ami!" Aiko yelled and tackled Amu to the ground. "No its okay!" Amu told Aiko and pulled her off of Utau. "I…I've been lying." Amu confessed as she faced Anika and Aiko.

"My name is Amu. I don't know why but I asked Kanoko to change my name and I changed my appearance so that I couldn't be recognized. I guess I thought that if I became a different person then I could forget about my past." Amu poured her heart out to them.

"It's okay Ami. I mean….Amu. We know it must have been hard. Your still our friend." Anika told Amu. Amu saw honesty radiating from Anika's eyes and sent her a grateful look. "Well I'm glad you're still alive." Utau mumbled, looking at her feet.

Amu turned her attention back to Utau and chuckled slightly. 'I guess Utau doesn't entirely hate me after all.' Amu thought happily. "That's probably the nicest thing you've said to me." Amu said to Utau who glared at her. "Well it's true." She said harshly although her expression quickly softened.

She couldn't be angry at Amu right now after she had learnt that Amu was still alive having just heard not long before that she was dead. "Well isn't this nice." A voice sneered. For the first time Utau and Kuukai noticed the boy tied to a chair lying facedown on the floor.

"Um. Amu who is that?" Kuukai asked, wondering what could possibly going on with three girls alone in a cabin in the middle of a forest with a boy trapped on a chair. "Well I don't know everything. But what I do know is his name is Kanari Akame and he lured me here, then tried to attack me with a needle with something in it."

Amu explained the situation so far and tried to think if there was anything she had left out. "We saved her though! And now he's tied in the chair for questioning." Aiko added as she gestured to Anika and herself. "Well well. I can help with the questioning." Kuukai smirked.

Kuukai needed no more information to know that he was going to help them and cracked his knuckles with an evil glint in his eyes. 'If you hurt any of my friends you face me.' He thought to himself. "Let's get started shall we?" He announced and started towards a slightly scared looking hostage.

**Thank you for waiting :) I know its not much but i am in a writing mood and hopefull the next chapter will be longer **  
**PLZ PLZ R&R! cookies for all your patience !**


	14. Easter

**kXa - hey guys i'm sorry i took so long again but i have some great news for people who still read the story. I have already started the next chapter and it should be done in a few days if you can find it in your hearts to forgive me. I do hope my writing has improved since i last updated so enjoy the story :) Also thank you so much to everyone who reviewed, alerted and favorited i am so very thankful.**

**I do not own shugo chara**

Amu sweatdropped at Kuukai's eagerness. "Kuukai we don't need to be too harsh." Amu tried to calm him down. "Don't you understand? He could have been trying to seriously harm you! I won't stand for someone harming any of my friends!" Kuukai told Amu firmly. Amu couldn't reply to his heartfelt words and backed off. " I say torture!" Iru cheered from next to Utau and all the char's besides Eru and Piper cheered in agreement. Eru looked around nervously not sure what to think about the whole situation and Piper just filed her nails uncaringly.

Aiko chara changed with Miko and aimed a giant needle with a very menacing looking purple liquid inside right at Kanari. She slowly made her way towards him trying to make him crack. It finally worked when she was about to prick his skin. "Okay! It was poison! Get that thing away from me!" He gritted out like it had physically pained him to have lost his composure and blab his intentions. "My orders were to get of Amu's whole family but she wasn't home as planned." Everyone turned to Amu who had frozen up at the news before she dropped to her knee's on the floor.

"Y-your the one." Amu said almost in disbelief. She had joked and laughed with this boy. He had touched her! And he had killed her family. She nearly felt physically sick at the thought. Kanari smirked despite the situation he was in. "That's right Amu i was the one to kill your family. I do have one regret though. I regret that you weren't there when it happened!" He gloated making Amu clamp her hands over her ears and clamp her eyes shut unable to hear his sickening words and trying to block everything out. Anika walked p to him and covered his neck with her hands.

"Who do you work for?" She asked threateningly. "Easter of course." He replied smugly. She tightened her hands around his neck in a silent warning for him to not do anything stupid. As Anika and AIko had no idea who Easter were or what they did Kuukai brought them up to speed as quickly as he could. Anika looked thoughtful for a moment before calling to her chara. "Piper?" Piper pulled out a recorder from behind her and replayed the last thing recorded which happened to be Kanari's confession to murder and being hired by Easter.

"We now have evidence for the police. Enough to get you convicted as well as have Easter shut down. But I think that before that we should have a little fun." Kanari's face paled considerably as he realised that he had been caught out. Utau went over to comfort Amu whilst everyone else closed in on the hostage. Utau pulled Amu's trembling body towards her. She had always acted cold towards Amu but she was a true friend and Utau would give anything to make her feel better. Utau whispered soothingly into her ear and rubbed her back as she watched the others.

Kuukai rolled up his sleeves and motioned for Aiko and Anika to stand back. Kuukai chara changed with Daichi and a soccer ball appeared in front of him. "Shoot!" he yelled and kicked the ball as hard as he could causing it to slam into Kanari's stomach. Kanari lurched forward in the chair as much as the ropes would allow and hacked up crimson liquid, spitting it onto the wooden floor.

"This is just the beginning." Kuukai said to Kanari, a malicious glint in his eyes. Aiko, Anika and Kuukai descended upon him all at once in their chara changed forms. Aiko with her medical supplies, Anika with her makeup materials and Kuukai with his sport equipment made a very threatening trio. Kuukai took the lead and punched Kanari in the face, hearing a satisfying crunching sound hoping he broke something.

He normally wasn't so violent but having killed his friends family and intending to kill her sent him over the edge. Kuukai continued attacking Kanari with his punches whilst Aiko inserted him with dangerous looking syringes and Anika on her way with giving him a makeover. The three were moving so fast that Utau lost track of who was doing what and only when they stopped was she able to see the amount of damage done. The three looked very happy with the outcome and if Utau wasn't so stressed from everything that happened she would have laughed.

Kanari was strained forwards against the ropes his face covered in makeup barely masking the blood and bruises inflicted by Kuukai, his clothes drastically changed to a skirt, boob tube and high heels with needle marks covering his exposed skin. "Have you realised that you made the biggest mistake of your life by going after my friend?" Kuukai answered the transvestite looking boy. Kanari growled at Kuukai too angry and embarrassed to say anything. "Wrong answer." Kuukai replied and kicked him square between the legs making Kanari emit a high pitched squeal.

As Kuukai continued torturing Kanari Utau decided that Ikuto needed to be informed of what was happening. Even with her being confused as to what her feelings were Utau only had to take one look at the broken Amu and she knew that she had to give up on Ikuto and let Amu have him without hassle. She needed him to be here for her right now and there was no way she could deny that.

Utau saw through the window that it was dark and dialled Ikuto's number hoping he was awake wherever he was. She waited a long while until she knew for sure that he wasn't going to answer his phone. "Dammit Ikuto." Utau grumbled and sent him a text explaining what was happening hoping he would get it soon. The three others in the room had stopped trotting Kanari and Aiko released a large yawn making Anika and Utau reply with their own yawns.

"I guess we should get some sleep you guys." Kuukai said. "It's too late to go anywhere tonight. We'll figure everything out tomorrow morning." The friends searched around the cabin finding two double beds and a couch. Kuukai picked up Amu who had yet to get up from her position on the floor and set her one of the double beds. Amu hugged him tightly for a second before allowing herself to fall back on the bed. "You girls can take the beds and I'll take the couch." Kuukai said and headed over to the couch.

"And they say chivalry is dead." Anika joked lightly. Kuukai sent her a crooked smile and turned out the lights as Utau joined Amu on her bed and Aiko and Anika shared theirs. The day had worn them all out and they all fell asleep within seconds of their heads touching the pillows.

~With Ikuto~

Ikuto slowly made his way towards his destination, not happy that he had been sent so far out. Somewhere along his travel his cellphone begun to ring. He checked the caller id and released a groan as his sisters name came up. "Not right now Utau." Ikuto grumbled and put the phone back in his pocket. 'Just waiting to lecture me to get rid of my girlfriend and try to make me love her.' He thought exasperatedly. The ringing stopped after a while and he released a thankful sigh.

Seconds later his phone chirped informing him of a text message. Ikuto let loose another sigh. 'At least a text is better than dealing with her.' With that Ikuto checked the message and immediately stopped in his tracks. He reread the text to make sure what he read was correct then doubled back headed back where he had just come as fast as he could. The text hadn't given him much information only saying -

'I know your girlfriend is really Amu. We are in a cabin in the woods near the park. Boy named Kanari tried hurting Amu, he is her parents killer. She needs you.'

Ikuto had travelled much farther than he would have liked and by the time he got to the woods the darkness was slowly lightening up. He soared over the tree's looking for the cabin Utau had told him about. At last he spotted a lone cabin amongst the tree's and made his way towards it. Coming closer he noticed men in suits surrounding the cabin and stayed hidden in one of the tree's surrounding the area. Ikuto recognised the logo on the mens' suits as the Easter logo confirming his suspicion that the company was involved.

Ikuto watched them silently make their way onto the front porch and enter as stealthily as possible. There were no signs of anything happening for a few minutes before sounds of struggling came out and Ikuto tensed ready to drop down to help out Amu. He stayed where he was when he saw Amu being brought out by one of the men followed by his sister, a brown haired boy, two girls he knew from seeing them around the orphanage and finally a man came out with five charas in a cage screaming to be let out.

They seemed unharmed and nothing was happening until another girl was brought out of the cabin supported by two more of the Easter men. The girl was really strange looking and Ikuto squinted down to see that it wasn't actually a girl but really Kanari. Ikuto was completely confused but knew he needed to focus and noticed how the boy seemed to have a little trouble standing straight. Kanari demanded clothes and took them from the Easter goons, even a poor man close to Kanari's size who had to give up his pants.

Even from his place in the tree Ikuto could see the now more manly looking Kanari's smug smile as he looked at the people who had held him hostage not long ago now held hostage by him. Ikuto's blood boiled as he saw Kanari's grin widen when his eyes fell upon Amu wanting to jump down and wipe that look off his face and grab Amu and never let her go but he knew he had to wait for the right time. "What are we going to do-nya?" Yoru asked from within Ikuto who ignored him and watched the proceedings below intently.

"Well well. Look who has the upper hand now." Kanari's voice drifted around the clearing. "You thought you had me? You thought torturing me was a good idea? Good thing Easter implanted me with a chop allowing them to know my whereabouts at all times." kanari paused in his gloating enjoying the looks of frustration on his captives. "I was just going to kill you quickly and get it over with but after recent events i believe a slow painful death for you and your friends is called for don't you?" Kanari took great pleasure at how Amu's face paled at the information.

Kanari walked closer to his captives as he continued his gloating. Ikuto knew that Kanari was distracted and put a plan into action. He jumped down and looked for a hard object, his eyes falling upon a rock the size of his fist. Ikuto picked up the rock and aimed carefully knowing he would only get one chance. He released the projectile and it flew right to its target. Kanari's head. Kanari dropped immediately at the impact.

Before the Easter goons could react Ikuto jumped into plain sight and knocked out the guard holding the brown haired boy who grinned and jumped into action alongside Ikuto. Together the two boys worked on taking out all of Easters men and Ikuto was silently proud as he watched his sister also jumping in and kicking butt. It seemed like there were too many men but soon they were standing there panting and waiting for more fighting to realise that all the goons had been defeated.

Ikuto spotted Amu and went straight for her, pulling her into his embrace. The shock wore off for Amu as she realised that Ikuto was there and had saved not only her but her friends as well. Amu grabbed onto Ikuto and leant her head into his chest as sobs began to wrack her body. Ikuto cradled Amu's body close to him.

A guilty feeling spread through him as he thought of how easily he had been tricked by Kazuomi and how close Amu had come to being taken away from him. "Don't leave again." Ikuto heard Amu's soft whisper as her crying ceased and she stayed in his arms. "I won't I promise." He replied and kissed her forehead tenderly.

Ikuto looked around to make sure that everyone else was unharmed during all the fighting. He spotted the brown haired boy, who he recognised as Amu's friend from the guardians, fussing over his blushing sister making Ikuto smile at the obvious attraction between the two. He then looked over to the two girls from the orphanage who were busying themselves by freeing the chara's from their cage. Everyone seemed to be unharmed leaving Ikuto to return his attention back to the girl in his arms.

"What are we going to do about him?" The couple broke apart to see Utau hovering above Kanari looking down at him. "I think it would be best to take him to the police before more of his friends come along." Anika suggested to which everyone agreed to. Kuukai and Ikuto worked together to balance the unconscious boy between the two of them and followed behind the girls who lead the way on the path back to town.

The six of them were quite happy to leave behind the cabin where they had spent a terrible night along with the bodies of the unconscious Easter workers for whom they had no qualms in leaving alone and unconscious in the middle of the woods. The group had made it to town and were halfway to the station when Kanari skilfully slipped from the grasp of the two surprised boys and pulled Amu into a chokehold. He quickly pulled out a concealed knife and held it to the terrified girls neck.

Her friends were all tensed ready to attack but nobody dared to hurt due to the threat of the consequences. "This time there will be no surprises." Kanari spit at the statuesque group. "I am slowly going to back away and take the girl with me. If any of you take a step closer there will be serious repercussions." As if to prove his point Kanari pulled the knife closer to Amu's skin making it break the skin slightly and a drop of red to appear. Ikuto gritted his teeth together as he felt completely useless whilst his girlfriend was in danger.

The group of friends could only watch helplessly as their friend was taken from them by her would be murderer. It was only when the two were out of sight that they dared to move. "We need to go after them now! I know he will be taking her to Easter, he has nowhere else to go!" Ikuto growled out. "Wait a minute. We need a plan." The frustrated Kuukai told the angry boy. Ikuto's head snapped over to face Kuukai. "We have no time! Don't you care that she is in trouble?" Ikuto was seething. Why were her friends not willing to go and help her?

"Don't you dare say i don't care about her!" Kuukai roared at Ikuto. "I want to go after her right away but i know that we wont be able to help her if we just charge inside with just us and no idea where she is being kept!" ikuto looked at Kuukai feeling thoroughly rebuked as he realised that he had a point. "I'm sorry, does anybody have a plan?"

It took only a moment before Utau came up with the perfect plan. "I think that if we get the rest of Amu's friends that would help our numbers. I bet that by the time we get there the employees wont know that Ikuto and I have turned against Easter so we could probably just walk in and tell them that Kazuomi is having auditions for a new band or group and get the others in. From there we split up and look for Amu."

The rest of the group were shocked at the well thought out yet simple plan and they all agreed it was the best thing any of them could come up with. "I thought blondes were supposed to be stupid?" The confused Aiko questioned. Anika rolled her eyes and smacked Aiko in the back of her head whilst Utau glared at her. "Time to save Amu!" Kuukai cheered. Things were looking better now with a plan in their minds.

~With Kazuomi~

"You imbecile! What were you thinking bringing her here?" Kazuomi could not believe what was happening in front of him. The agent he had sent to kill a worthless girl had suddenly reappeared early in the morning with the girl which he bound to a chair in the companies basement. How hard was it to just kill her? The boy could have very well tied the company to the murder of her parents by bringing an obviously unwilling girl into the building. There could have been witnesses and he would have to get to the security tapes just in case.

"Sir there was too much interference with the plan! Her friends stopped me right when I had her!" The teen boy desperately tried getting his boss to understand the situation. "I do not care for your excuses! What if somebody saw you?" He glared down at the flustered boy. "W-what are you going to do to me?" Kazuomi heard from the bound girl. "Someone gag her." He signalled to one of his guards who leapt to the task and motioned for Kanari to follow him into the hallway outside the room.

"You better have a good idea on what we are going to do about your idiotic stunt." Kanari looked down at the floor and glared at it as if it had the answer but refused to tell him. "Am I still going to kill the girl?" Kanari finally asked. Kazuomi released an annoyed breath. "Of course you are still going to kill the girl but what are we going to do about the potential witnesses outside?" Kanari obviously unable to think of anything so Kazuomi realised he would have to take it into his own hands.

"We'll find someone to disguise themselves as the girl. They will then exit the building to throw off anyone who saw a struggling girl entering to now see her exiting unharmed. Once we locate someone for the job you will go into that room and finish your assignment." Kazuomi explained his plan to Kanari who nodded, eager to find someone so he could come back and finally kill the troublesome girl.

Amu desperately pulled at the ropes binding her to the chair, the cloth gag muffling her frustrated sounds. She gave up as her wrists began to become raw at the rubbing and she knew that the knots were too tight for her to get away from. She also had no idea how she would get past the guards who had been watching her struggle to make sure she did not get free.

Amu hung her head down feeling completely defeated. She kept coming up blank on any plans and knew that as soon as either Kazuomi or Kanari came back they would kill her. She had seen the murderous looks Kanari had sent her before leaving the room which had made her more desperate for escape. 'I'm sorry everyone. I'm sorry for making you all suffer.' Amu apologised in her head to her friends hoping that they did not come and try to save her and get hurt. 'I just wish i could have said goodbye one last time.' Amu finally thought and slumped back defeatedly into the chair.

**So yeah thats the chapter. Hope you all liked it and like i said the next chapter WILL be up in a few days. R&R :)**


	15. Keep them safe

**Yay I kept my promise :D So yeah I finally am keeping up and here is the next chapter of Orphaned. Kinda disappointed because i only got one review for the last chapter which kinda made me not want to update this chapter at all until I got more reviews but hey I promised so there ya go. Thank you very much to the one person who did review :)**

**I do not own shugo chara**

Kuukai made the call to the guardians as he was the only one they would trust completely. He had told them to meet him right away in front of the Easter building. Once Kuukai made all the calls he and the rest of the teens made their way to Easter. The guardians all arrived together, quite shocked to see who Kuukai was with. "Kuukai what is the emergency so early in the morning? And why are you with that cat!" Tadase questioned his friend. "I don't have time to explain everything but Ami was kidnapped by Easter and Ikuto is here because she is his girlfriend."

The group had all decided to let the guardians think it as Ami because they wanted to let Amu tell the guardians in her own time and knew that the guardians would be too thrown off by the fact that their friend was still alive to be of much help to them. Rima was the only one amongst the guardians that realised what had really happened and had to train her face to be blank to make sure none of the other guardians realised anything was wrong.

"Why would Easter want Ami?" Nagehiko asked. "We believe that they think of her as a distraction for Ikuto so they want to make her disappear." Kuukai was proud of himself as he began making that up on the spot. Nagehiko had a strange feeling that there was something a little off about Kuukai's answer but decided to shrug it off until later. "Well what's the plan?" Rima asked making Utau go into the details of the plan they had thought up.

The large group entered the Easter building with Ikuto and Utau leading the way. They were all surprised at how easy everything was going only being stopped by one or two guards who accepted their story of Kazuomi wanting to hire new talent. Ikuto and Utau stopped when they got to the middle level of the building. Preparing themselves to break their one large group into two.

One team would go down and the other group would go up, making the search quicker. Ikuto, Rima, Aiko and Utau decided they wanted to go down. Kuukai would lead the other group with Yaya, Tadase, Anika and Nagehiko as they thought that the groups should be led by somebody who knew what was happening. "Before you guys leave, be careful at the top floor. Thats where Kazuomi's office is." Ikuto told the other group who nodded back at the information.

Kuukai gave Yaya his best smile as she looked a little lost after being told she was going with Kuukai. He wished to show her that there were no hard feelings between them. Yaya, who had thought that being around Kuukai was going to be awkward was glad to see Kuukai wasn't hurt by her rejection and became even more pumped up than she already was. Both groups went to work on finding Amu as fast as they could.

~With Kazuomi~

Kanari followed behind Kazuomi as he led the way to his office on the top floor of the building. He was planning on searching his employee database to find the perfect person to disguise as the troublesome girl called Amu. He was still frustrated with the boy he had hired to kill the girl. Was it really so hard to get one little girl?

"Stupid Ikuto is going to get whats coming to him." He heard the boy behind him mutter making him halt his brisk walk. "What did Ikuto do this time?" Kanari looked up to find himself being addressed by his boss. "Ikuto was working along with her stupid friends and saved the girl when our men had her." Kanari explained.

Kazuomi became even more enraged at the boy than he was before. "Why didn't you tell me this sooner?" Kazuomi yelled and picked up his pace to his office. Once inside the room He picked up his office phone and dialled his secretaries number. "did Ikuto enter this building with anyone?" He demanded. "Why yes sir. He and his sister came into the building a few minutes ago with a group of young teens. They said they were bringing to you to hire as new talent." Kazuomi slammed down on the hang up button before dialling the guard room.

Kazuomi didn't even wait for his head guard to answer when he heard the call being answered. "I want all of the guards to find Tsukiyomi Ikuto and Hoshino Utau and any other young teens and apprehend them immediately! Send most of the guards to the lower levels. They are going to steal some precious cargo in the basement level." Kazuomi heard a sound of assent from the other line and hung up the phone.

"Kanari we are going to have to find someone quickly then i want you to head down and eliminate her." Kanari bowed in acceptance to his bosses wishes as Kazuomi sat down in his chair and he stood next to him. Both watching impatiently for someone who was a good match to pop up.

~Kuukai's group~

Trouble came soon after the two groups split up and guards began trying to stop them with force. Even with the guards Kuukai's team was making good progress throughout the floors, getting closer and closer to the top floor. "Does anybody else think that its a bit suspicious that there aren't that many guards coming after us?" Nagehiko observed aloud. The rest of the group murmured their agreement as they realised that it did seem quite weird.

"Even if Amu is in the lower levels i think there will be a good chance that the boss will be in his office on the top floor. If he is then we can distract him while the others save Ami and maybe try to issue orders from his office to stop the guards." Kuukai made a quick decision and knew that it was true that if Amu wasn't in any of their floors they could still help out.

Three guards came from around the corner and were quickly taken down by the four chara holders who's charas cheered them on, ready to jump in and help if their holders needed them. They exchanged gratified smiles at another victory against the Easter guards when Kuukai was struck with an idea. "Why don't you guys continue looking for Ami and we will go up and distract the boss if he is in his office." Kuukai directed this at the chara's who looked uncomfortable at the idea.

"What if you get into a tough fight and need us?" Daichi asked his master. "No need to worry Daichi. So far there hasn't been any real problems and when we get to Kazuomi's office we'll make sure its just us five and him. What's the worst that could happen?" The charas still felt uncomfortable leaving, even with Kuukai's assurances. The other chara's all looked to their owners who agreed with Kuukai and told their chara's to go along with the idea.

"What will we do if we find Ami?" Kiseki asked him. "Help as much as possible without arousing suspicion or getting anyone hurt and come find either us or Ikuto's group." With that the young teens waved goodbye to their still hesitant chara's and headed straight for Kazuomi's office. 'Because really, what's the worst that could happen?' Kuukai thought to himself and shrugged it off.

~ikuto's Group~

The group of four were having a much more difficult time then the group upstairs as the lower they got the more guards seemed to appear. "So why did Easter really want Amu?" Rima questioned her three partners when there was finally a small break between fighting. Ikuto gave her a surprised glance, noticing the serious expression she had on her face.

"You know she isn't dead? How?" Ikuto asked. "Her chara's were with me when we heard of Amu's death but they hadn't disappeared so i knew that Amu was still alive somehow. I saw her in town and then again at school where we talked." Ikuto took in the information for a second then relayed to her what he knew of the events of last night and then that morning.

Rima was quiet as they continued along the level they were on, taking time to absorb the large amount of information she had just received. Her emotions were siring in a mixture of sadness and hatred of the truth of the murder of her best friends family as well as her best friends almost murder just last night. "So they most likely took her here to kill her?" Rima asked worriedly.

"We think that's the most likely possibility." Ikuto replied. "No one gets killed on my watch!" Aiko broke the solemn atmosphere, making the rest of the group adorn a small smile. "Aiko's right. Think positive. Nothing bad will happen to Amu while we are here." Utau said. "Go dumb blonde!" Aiko gave Utau a thumbs up making Ikuto have to hold his sister back and then push her forward to keep her moving. "I'll show you dumb blonde when this is over." Utau muttered darkly to herself giving Aiko one more deadly glare before becoming serious again.

They continued their frustratingly slow progress through the building with the continuous onslaught of guards hassling them. Ikuto grew increasingly annoyed as more time went by. It seemed like forever when they made it to the final basement level of the building. 'Please be here Amu.' was thought by the entire group as they became more desperate. They searched throughout the floor fighting many Easter goons before coming upon a door with guards posted in front of it. "She has to be in there." Ikuto said and flew towards the guards to catch them by surprise.

The guards were strong but not strong enough to defeat the enraged blue haired boy. The bodies of the guards barely had enough time to hit the ground before Ikuto kicked the once guarded door open and charged inside, preparing himself for more fighting. Utau, Rima and Aiko followed right behind him prepared for backup. The only occupants inside the room however were Kanari brandishing his knife next to Amu who was tied to a chair slumped over.

"We're too late!" ikuto cried running over to the motionless girl. "Amu i'm so sorry please forgive me!" Ikuto held Amu's unbound head to his chest, unable to look her in the eyes for seeing her blank stare gaze back at him. Kanari burst out laughing sounding slightly crazy and angry at the same time. "Um..Ikuto?" A muffled voice was heard.

Ikuto immediately released Amu and she turned her head up to face him. "I'm not dead Ikuto. Go before you guys get hurt!" Amu pleaded with her boyfriend. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if she knew that any of her loved ones got hurt because of her. "Ikuto look out!" Ikuto swung around just in time for him to block Kanari's blade from hitting him.

Amu screamed at them, trying to get them to stop fighting knowing it would be useless but not able to do anything else. Utau jumped on Kanari to help her brother as Aiko went to undo the binds holding Amu to the chair. Rima joined Utau and together they pinned Kanari's arms to his body, allowing Ikuto's fist to connect with Kanari's face. Utau and Rima jumped away from Kanari as he fell forward and hit the ground, the punch knocking him out cold.

Aiko was able to break Amu's bonds and Amu jumped up bringing all of her friends into a hug. "Thank you guys." Amu told the group, her emotions making her voice heavy with gratefulness. They stayed together for a while as Amu basked in the security of her friends' embrace. "It was no big deal." Utau huffed and broke off from the hug, crossing her arms. Amu looked at Utau a little confused at her coldness until she saw the relief and happiness in Utau's eyes. Amu smiled, knowing Utau was just pretending. "Thanks anyway." She murmured.

The peaceful atmosphere was broken as shouts broke out in the hallway leading to the room they were standing in. The friends tensed ready for more fighting when the room was suddenly flooded with police. "Are you miss Amu Hinamori?" Amu was addressed by one of the men and nodded her head in reply. :We received a call about your situation. We are here to escort you and your friends to safety." He explained to her and began to escort the five of them out of the building.

"Wait!" Rima called out to the two men picking up the still unconscious Kanari. "He isn't with us. He is the one who took Amu and murdered her family." Rima had a hard time saying the end of her sentence with a steady voice but knew that she had to be strong for Amu's sake. There was no lay she was going to let Kanari get away with what he had done to her best friend. The two men acknowledged that they understood. The group once again allowing themselves to be escorted out explaining to Amu their plan on getting her safe, telling her the others would most likely meet up with them soon.

"Did any of you call the police?" Utau questioned the other four once they were safely outside the Easter building. They shook their heads negatively. "Well who did then? The police were informed of the situation and the only other people who knew about it were the others." Utau finished.

This statement caused horrified looks to appear on Amu, Rima and Aiko's faces. "You don't think anything happened do you? They wouldn't have involved the police unless something really serious happened." Rima began panicking as she thought it through. "I don't think-" Ikuto was cut short by the wails of a siren announced the arrival of an ambulance.

It took all of their self control not to panic and go running back into the group could only watch as the paramedics rushed into the Easter building to help whoever it was they were called there for. 'Please keep my friends safe from harm.' Amu prayed to the heavens hoping that the ambulance wasn't there for any of her loved ones.

~Earlier with Kuukai's group~

The five of them got to Kazuomi's office fairly quickly now that they knew where they had to go. It was easy to find Kazuomi's office as it was marked with two large, wide double doors made of dark wood with gold engravings on it. The whole look made the entrance seem menacing and threw them off a little bit but they continued on anyway. Nagehiko took the lead and pushed the handle, finding the door unlocked before walking inside. The room was empty of the guards who had been clogging the halls, the rooms only occupants being Kazuomi sitting behind his desk with Kanari next to him.

"Ah the young lady's friends have arrived." Kazuomi started as he eyed the five of them. "Looking for your friend? I'm afraid she isn't here." He mocked. "That doesn't matter. As long as we keep you here the others can find her and save her." Kuukai stated cockily. "Kanari, get to her room immediately and finish her off." Kazuomi ordered the boy beside him.

Kanari bowed to his boss and headed towards the door. "As if we would let you pass!" Tadase declared and together the group crammed together blocking the boys way with their bodies. Kanari found this amusing and pulled out his blade slashing it in Yaya's direction as she was in the middle of the blockade. Anika and Nagehiko who were beside her pulled her away from the steel edge just in time to avoid injury, the grip on their hands loosening slightly.

Kanari Used the opening and pushed the friends into each other making them collapse onto of one another trying to lessen the harm to each other. Kanari hastily made his escape through the double doors. Kuukai reacted quickly and jumped up to follow Kanari and stop him when the wooden doors slammed shut in his face. Kazuomi chuckled as he released the button he had pressed to shut the doors. "I had some safety measures installed just in case," Kazuomi told the intruders as they recovered from Kanari's surprise attack.

It appears that I have the upper hand now." Kazuomi gloated. "Do you really think that the five of us can't incapacitate you? You have no one here to help you now!" Kuukai yelled and began striding forward, his friends following quickly beside him. Kazuomi watched as the group decreased the distance between them before casually pulled open one of his drawers and grabbed a gun. The group of five were halted in their movement as they saw what he had drawn out.

"I am no child. I get to play with the big boy toys." Kazuomi said condescendingly and waved the gun back and forth. "now what was it you were saying about stopping me?" Kazuomi aimed the gun straight at Kuukai's heart. Kuukai's face paled and he had broken into a nervous sweat. He realised just how dangerous their situation had become.

Kazuomi mocked the barrel of the gun to point back and forth between the friends, mocking them as he knew how terrified they were by their facial expressions. Each one giving him a sense of victory seeing how he had wiped the cockiness from their faces. 'I can still do this!' Kuukai pumped himself up and just before the gun moved back to him he charged forward. It almost felt like time had slowed down as Kuukai saw Kazuomi's finger tighten on the trigger.

Kuukai closed his eyes and leapt over the desk, a loud banging sound erupting in the room. 'he can shoot me but i'll give my friends enough time to stop him.' was Kuukai's last thought as he felt himself collide into the other, much larger body of the Easter boss. Kuukai lay on the fallen Kazuomi for a few seconds before realising that he was not only still alive but he felt perfectly fine. He opened his eyes and pinned down Kazuomi who was still struggling from beneath him. Kazuomi's was finding that in his age it was incredibly difficult to be able to knock of Kuukai's weight.

"Game over, you missed." Kuukai said triumphantly. "Did I?" Kazuomi asked still struggling. A loud thump from across the room broke Kuukai's concentration although he was unable to see anything from behind the desk. A loud scream soon followed after and Kuukai knew something had happened. Kuukai slammed Kazuomi's head into the hardwood floor hard enough to knock the larger man out and leapt up to find out what the commotion was about.

"No." kuukai whispered in disbelief as he he caught sight of his friend laying on the floor, hand clutching their stomach, the other members of the group crowded around and panicking. "Quick, someone call an ambulance!" He cried and ran over to his fallen friend. "It'll be okay. Don't worry. we'll get you out of here and you'll be fine." Kuukai comforted them wondering if he was trying to convince them or himself. He stared at the ashen face as they sent him a small encouraging smile as if to tell him they were okay before their eyes closed.

**Left it there cuz I am mean... so does anyone want to guess who it is? And please please review as it makes me very happy. The end is coming near for this fanfiction and if you want to see it then reviewing is a good idea as they are my food to keep me alive. **


	16. Finale

**Yes everyone I have finally updated. Finally we have reached the end :D**

**I do not own shugo chara**

Kuukai held his friend's head in his lap, unable to look away from his pale face. Nagehiko's eyes had closed giving Kuukai a mini heart attack until he noticed the slow rise and fall of Nagehiko's chest. He wasn't sure who had called the ambulance but the police soon filed into the room, trying to escort the group out and putting Kazuomi under arrest. The four friends refused to leave without Nagehiko. The sympathetic policemen allowed them to stay until the paramedics needed to take him away.

The arrival of the paramedics was a huge relief to everyone in the room as they immediately began working on keeping Nagehiko alive. The boy had become deathly pale and his breathing barely noticeable in the time it took for the medics to arrive. When the paramedics had loaded Nagehiko onto a portable stretcher the rest of the group followed right behind, watching him being taken away. They exited the building with their police escort behind them as Nagehiko was loaded into the ambulance. During the confusion the group didn't realize that their chara's had rejoined them. Rhythm went straight to his egg bearer and stayed as close as he could, worried beyond anything that he wasn't going to make it.

"Guys!" They heard a shout and found the girl they thought was Ami coming towards them. Even with the shock of what had just happened Kuukai knew that Amu had forgotten that she was playing Ami who wasn't friends with the guardians and rushed forward. "Thank god Ami your okay!" Kuukai brang Amu into a bear hug, ecstatic to see his friend safe. Amu hugged him back and laughed as Anika joined in the embrace. Once they had let go Amu greeted Yaya and Tadase with a smile, wanting nothing more than to run up and hug them.

"I am glad to see you safe Ami." Tadase greeted politely. Amu smiled at him and realized that someone was missing. "Where is Nagehiko?" Amu whispered to Kuukai making the smile drop from his face. "We need to go to the hospital, Nagehiko was shot." Amu's eyes widened in shock. "No way." Amu's eyes began to water. Ikuto who had overheard the conversation went to speak to the police explaining to them the situation. The policeman listened carefully and called over a couple of other officers who would drive them to the hospital, then to the station to give their statements.

Ikuto called over Amu and her friends. The police split them up to fit them all into the police vehicles, heading to the hospital as quickly as they could. When they arrived the police escorted everyone into the hospital and into the ICU waiting room. The nurses were alerted to warn the surgeon after he got out of surgery that they were waiting. Everyone was tense as the hours began to slip by.

Amu sat with her head in her hands, not knowing how to handle the fact that her friend was in surgery and possibly going to die because of her. Ikuto had his arm around Amu trying his best to comfort her. The guardians were all either constantly switching from fidgeting to pacing the room. Anika and Aiko who was being unnaturally well behaved were quietly whispering to one another.

Utau, who had not slept well the night before was sleeping against a solemn looking Kuukai. Everyone was startled out of their thoughts when the door opened revealing a man in surgical scrubs. "You are all here for the young boy?" The man asked, eying the police leaning casually against the wall. Kuukai jumped up, waking a bleary eyed Utau. "How is he?" The man gave Kuukai a tired, searching look.

"We were able to get the bullet out. He was a lucky young man as it missed any vital organs and major arteries by mere inches. He had severe blood loss but came just in time so we were able to stop the bleeding and hook him up with a transfusion. Your friend will be fine." The doctor finished. Everyone who had held their breath during the long explanation were able to sigh in relief and some of the friends began to cheer. Amu cried in relief in Ikuto's arms. "We're going to have to take you all to the station now, one of the officers leaning against the wall piped up.

The group cried out in protest to the policeman's words, wanting to visit Nagehiko. "Your friend will be asleep for a few more hours at least." The doctor told them. The policemen thanked the doctor and tried to reassure their charges. "We will take you to make your statements and when you are all done we will drive you back here." At this promise the group left quickly, most of them wanting to get done as soon as possible so they could get back sooner. The chara's gathered around Rhythm, who couldn't bear staying with his master during surgery, and gave him encouraging hugs before going back to their masters.

After finishing their statements Utau, Anika and Aiko all decided to leave the friends to let them be together without outsiders and were driven home by one of the police officers. Ikuto stayed along with the group wanting to give Amu his support, knowing that she would need him. They made it back to the hospital in the late evening and were led to the room Nagehiko was resting in. The guardians and Kuukai surrounded his bed while Amu stayed back with Ikuto. Amu's guilty conscience refused to let her be too near the boy for the moment. Rhythm hovered around Nagehiko's still body. He knew his bearer was safe but he cared so deeply for him that he wished his master's pain would go away. Rhythm was happy that his friends were there for them both and knew that everything was going to be fine.

The only good thing that happened that day was their statements, according to the police, seemed to be enough evidence to put Kanari and Kazuomi for a very long time. Amu had been extremely relieved at the news but could not enjoy it for too long as they had soon left to see Nagehiko and remind her that her problems were not behind her. The room was dead silent as Nagehiko began to twitch. Everyone watched intensely as his eyes fluttered open and he tried to regain his bearings. Nagehiko took a moment to remember what had happened as well as to find out where he was.

His friends surrounding him were unsure what to do as they didn't know how he was feeling about everything. Nagehiko gave them a smile despite the soreness he was feeling. Everyone minus Amu and Ikuto who were still standing apart from them smiled back. They immediately began to ask how he was feeling and express how happy they were that he was okay. Nagehiko could only reply that he was fine and thank them for their well wishes as he was still recovering from everything that had happened that day. He started to become shy at all the attention and diverted his eyes away from the loving group.

It was then that he spotted Amu shifting around looking guilty and Ikuto with a comforting hand on her back. "I'm glad to see that you are okay Ami." Amu's eyes widened at Nagehiko's declaration. "Me? You were the one that was seriously hurt." Amu went past the guardians and grabbed Nagehiko's hands in her own. "Well I am glad we are all safe. Plus I will be fine." Nagehiko reassured her. "May I have a minute along with Nagehiko?" Amu directed to everyone else in the room.

Kuukai gave her a knowing look and ushered the protesting friends out. Amu motioned to Ikuto to follow them out. Once everyone was gone from the room and the door had clicked shut Amu turned back to her purple haired friend. "I don't think I can keep seeing you like this without you knowing the truth. I feel terrible about you coming to my rescue without knowing who I am." Amu held onto her friends hands for a moment longer before reaching up and taking off her contacts.

Nagehiko gasped in disbelief as he saw the unmistakably familiar golden eyes gazing back at him. He reached up with his left hand and caressed her cheek as if to make sure that she was real and actually before him. "Amu" He whispered, fearing if he spoke too loud she might just disappear. He finally realized that his friend who he had thought to be gone forever was truly standing in front of him and pulled her into a bone crushing hug.

Amu was surprised at the sudden embrace but was happy that he didn't seem to be angry. They stayed that way for a few moments, Amu being mindful of his wound. When Nagehiko finally let her go he couldn't help but stare at her. Now that he knew the truth he could not get enough of looking at her. "Do the others know? Why did you change yourself? Why didn't you tell us you were okay?" Nagehiko kept asking the questions coming an Amu had to cover his mouth to make him stop.

"One at a time okay?" Amu laughed and Nagehiko nodded. "Well first of all only Ikuto, Utau and Kuukai know as well as my two friends from the orphanage and the last two questions tie together. I heard from Ikuto that you guys thought I was dead. I thought I could change myself and be somebody else, so that I could forget what happened. I felt like I couldn't be someone else if everyone still thought of me as Amu." Nagehiko took a moment to consider Amu's answer. "And now? Are you going to tell everyone who you are?"

Amu didn't know how she was going to answer Nagehiko's question for sure. "I.. I don't know. Can you keep it a secret for now?" Nagehiko did not like lying to his friends especially about something as major as this but agreed to stay quiet. He hoped he would be able to convince her to tell everyone she was really Amu and they would all work things out together. Amu thanked him and the two friends began talking to each other about everything and anything. Nagehiko was ecstatic to be able to talk to his friend again.

They were able to be alone for a while before the guardians reentered the room. Amu told them she was finished and they once again surrounded Nagehiko's bedside. Amu bade Nagehiko farewell and went to Ikuto so they could leave together. "Wait Ami!" Amu turned around to be pulled into a fierce hug by Kuukai. "I'll see you after school tomorrow. Is it alright if I visit you?" Kuukai asked Amu who smiled and nodded at him. The guardians told Amu goodbye, all promising to see her at school the next day.

Amu finally left with Ikuto, thankful that even though her day had been stressful her biggest problem had ben dealt with. She knew that she had to make peace with her families death now that the murderer and all the people involved were in custody. The only dilemma she faced at the moment was whether or not she wished to allow the guardians back into her life or stay her new self and make new friends. This may require asking to be transferred to another school as too many of her old friends knew who she was. Ikuto's arm around her shoulder reminded Amu that he was still with her no matter what.

She leaned more into Ikuto's embrace as they continued their way out of the hospital. A policeman was waiting outside so he could take them home and explain what happened to her parents, or social worker in her case. The drive to the orphanage was quiet, Amu still thinking hard on her decision. They arrived at the orphanage to be greeted by a very worried Kanoko who had heard all the details when Aiko and Anika had been brought back.

Kanoko brang Amu into a tight bear hug and refused to let go until she saw Ikuto. "Who is that?" She asked eyeing him up. "I'm Ikuto, a friend of Amu's." Ikuto stated and shook hands with her. Kanoko smiled and gave him a bear hug too. The very uncomfortable Ikuto tried unsuccessfully to push the woman off without hurting her. "Any friend of Amu's is welcome here." Said Kanoko and let him go. The police officer left after Kanoko invited Ikuto to stay for a while and promised to drive him back home later. Ikuto who was happy to spend more time with Amu happily agreed.

The rest of the day went smoothly as Ikuto, Amu, Anika and Aiko all spent it with each other as the other children were at school. Kanoko dropped Ikuto off at his house just before dinner after thanking him continuously for helping Amu. Amu was less reserved than usual around Aiko and Anika. She was genuinely happy as it sunk in more that her families murderer was caught and going to be punished for his crimes. The thought was overwhelming and Amu felt happier than she had since finding her family dead.

Anika and Aiko knew why Amu was in a good mood and were happy for their newly acquired friend. They ended their day together after dinner as they all went to their rooms. Amu lay in bed as she realized that she would have to face the guardians tomorrow at school meaning she would be forced to make her decision quickly. Now that she was alone with her thoughts she was able to think through everything. Was it worth losing her friends so she could forget her past and reinvent herself? Should she even bother to reinvent herself or would she be able to make peace with what happened and continue on?

The questions just kept coming and rotating around inside her head. Without making much progress Amu began falling asleep. Her dreams plagued her with images of a pale Nagehiko laying on the floor. The life completely gone from his eyes as Kanari and Kazuomi stood over him laughing. Her friends circled around her all saying the same thing. 'Why do you care? You don't even know him! Your just some random girl!' Their voices were harsh and angry. Amu shot up with a loud gasp and clutched her frantically beating heart. Her breaths were coming in short spurts only returning to normal when she repeated the fact that Nagehiko was fine over and over again to herself.

Amu groaned and fell back against her pillow. Her hand went up to her clammy forehead as she made her decision. She couldn't leave her friends behind. There was no way she could move away and ignore everything they did for her. Even though they didn't know who she was when they saved her they were great friends and she felt that if she tried to break away it would just hurt her too much. Wishing she could get some outside advice Amu glanced longingly at her still sealed chara's eggs. She missed them dearly and just wished that they would come back to her. She was unsure how to get them to come out and hoped maybe she could get some ideas from the other chara's.

A glance at the clock told Amu that she needed to get up and ready for school. She got ready for the day while worrying about her friend's reactions if she told them. 'Would they hate me?' She wondered. It was only Tadase and Yaya that had to be told but she didn't want to have any of her friends angry with her. She carefully put her chara eggs in her bag and met up with Aiko and Anika for breakfast. "Ami!" Aiko squealed and tackled the black haired girl. "You can call me Amu today okay? Just wait till I tell the other who I am okay?" Amu looked at Aiko and Anika who was still clinging onto her for an answer. They agreed to allow her to do whatever she needed before calling her her real name.

"You know… I don't think the guardians are **that** bad." Anika told Amu, crossing her arms and looking away so they couldn't see her embarrassed face. "I mean. They still suck but they will help in a pinch." Amu laughed at the stubborn girl and started dragging her to the school bus. "Maybe you can join them!" Aiko exclaimed. Both Anika and Piper glared at the excited girl who bounced around not caring about the death glares. Amu pushed Anika onto the bus and sat between the two girls to stop the oncoming argument.

As the bus got closer to the school Amu got more and more nervous with her decision as it would surely be a large and difficult change. Amu thought fondly of her boyfriend and the friends who had accepted her back happily. During the events of the day before Amu was not completely sure how Kuukai, Utau and Nagehiko felt about her lying to them. They had now had time to think about it with all the action over and the relief could have changed to anger. Amu hoped to see them soon so that she could talk to them and see how they felt.

They arrived at school all too soon in Amu's opinion. Amu followed Aiko off the bus and ran into the guardians. Anika stepped in front of Amu, glaring at the group in front of them. Yaya hid behind Rima to get away from the glare as Rima glared right back. "How are you doing Ami?" Tadase ignored the tension between the two groups putting his attention fully on Amu. "I'm fine Tadase. Is there anything you wanted?" Amu asked. "Just wanted to see if you were okay after yesterday." Amu was touched that they were caring for her even though she was dating the 'enemy'.

"I'm okay. Would you mind if I met with the guardians at lunch. There is something important I wish to tell you." Rima shot her a questioning look. She suspected the reason Amu wanted to talk to them, mainly Yaya and Tadase, as they didn't know about her. Amu gave her a small nod confirming her assumption. Rima sent her a blinding smile, unable to hide her happiness that Amu felt ready to come out with the truth. Now she wouldn't have to constantly watch what she said and they would all be together again like before. "What are you smiling about Rima?" Yaya asked after noticing her friend's strange behavior. "Just remembered a funny joke." Rima murmured back, schooling her features back to normal so as not to give anything away.

"Sure thing Ami. We will see you in the garden. Do you know where it is?" Amu confirmed she did and they all said farewell as the bell rang. Rima gave Amu a brief hug knowing Amu would be nervous and wanted to give her a little bit of comfort. Amu was grateful for the hug, showing her appreciation by tightly hugging Rima back before they headed off to class. Usually class went slowly for Amu. She hoped that this would be the case today, wanting time to prepare herself.

Obviously things were not going to go her way, as classes seemed to breeze by faster than ever. Lunchtime came and Amu took a deep breath to calm the butterflies in her stomach. She had made her choice. She would go back to being Amu, get through everything and move on. Feeling a little more brave after thinking it through Amu made her way to the place that she had used to spend most of her time in. She hesitated for only a second before she entered the archway into the garden.

The garden smelled wonderfully of all the flowers that were in full bloom. The garden was full of beautiful colors. The aroma only served to calm her nerves more. Amu went up to the guardians feeling much more calm than she had felt that morning. The feeling of courage helped her realize that even if her friends were angry they would know she was safe and she had at least some of her old friends. She believed in her friends though and believed that even if they were angry they would see how had things were and maybe eventually forgive her for causing them pain and worry. Once she told them there would be no secrets and nothing holding her back from moving on from everything and living life to the fullest.

The guardians all greeted her and led her to an empty space around the table. Taking one last deep breath Amu smiled at the group before her. "There us something I need to tell you two." Amu directed at Yaya and Tadase. The two shared a look of confusion before turning their attention back to Amu. "I want to start by telling you guys that I am sorry for not telling you. I was… naïve and thought I could keep it from you but I realized that you had to know. I'm not Ami. I'm Amu." Amu looked down guiltily after her confession.

Her hands clenched in her lap, nervousness coming back slowly as there was nothing but silence. Yaya looked to Rima who smiled sadly and nodded, confirming what she had just heard was real. It took a few seconds for the fact that her best friend who she thought had been murdered was sitting across from her, alive and well. Yaya leapt up from her seat and tackled Amu, tipping her chair back until it fell and both girls were sprawled on the floor. Amu laughed despite the slight pain from falling as Yaya hugged her tightly.

"Amu!" I can't believe your back! Yaya is so happy!" Yaya shouted at the girl under her. Amu didn't bother to move from under her, knowing Yaya needed the comfort as Yaya's eyes began to water. Yaya rested her head on Amu's shoulder and began to cry from the overwhelming amount of joy she was feeling at her friends return. The other guardians watched on. Rima with a smile on her face and Tadase with a blank expression. Amu carefully maneuvered the younger girl so they were standing with Yaya's head still buried in her shoulder.

Amu looked over at Tadase, not having gotten a reaction from him yet. Her joyous mood fell slightly when she saw Tadase glaring at the table before him. Rima noticed the falling of Amu's expression and nudged Tadase, trying to force him into motion. "I'm so glad your alive…" Tadase began as he finally met Amu's eyes. "I just…. To think you kept such a huge secret from us. Letting us believe you were dead and it was obviously hurting us!" Tadase's voice began to rise as his emotions overpowered him and he became angrier. Tadase was quiet after his outburst as the three girls were too shocked at his shouting to react.

Tadase suddenly fled from the shocked group, unable to handle all the conflicting emotions inside of him. Amu's eyes watered as she watched the fleeing blonde. Rima joined in the hug with Yaya who had yet to let go of Amu, at seeing her become upset. "He just needs some time. He'll come around." Rima comforted Amu who nodded back showing she believed her friends words. The three friends spent the lunch together, Yaya clinging onto Amu as if she would disappear if she let her go. The bell rang to begin classes and Amu walked with Rima and Yaya, being much happier than just an hour previously even though Tadase had a negative reaction.

There was no sign of Tadase throughout the rest of the day. Amu had to remind herself that he probably needed lots of time to process the shock of her news. She couldn't help but feel sad that the boy she once had a crush on was angry with her and possibly would be for a long time. Rima and Yaya joined Amu as she exited the school building. Kuukai was waiting outside the school gates for Amu. He congratulated her on her courage for telling the rest of the group and comforted her after she told him of what had occurred during lunch and Tadase's reaction to it.

Kuukai greeted Yaya with a hug, things between them not at all awkward which they were happy for. "Would you guys like to come see Nagehiko with me?" Kuukai asked the girls. Rima and Yaya happily agreed to go and looked at Amu for her answer. "I'll have to ask. I keep running out on my guardian. Just give me a minute." Amu excused herself and went up to the buses that would take her back to the orphanage. She was thankful that Kanoko was on bus duty that day.

"Kanoko?" Amu got the woman's attention. "Is it okay if I visit my friend in the hospital with some friends from school?" Amu asked and pointed to the trio waiting for her. Kanoko had to think for a minute. "If you wait until I direct everyone on the bus I will go with you there. I cant let you go without an adult." Amu agreed and bumped into Aiko and Anika on her way back to her three other friends. She promised to hang out with them later and told them where she was going. They said their goodbyes and Amu finally got back to the group.

"Alright lets go." Kanoko told the teens. The group made their way to the hospital on foot, chatting happily amongst themselves. Amu enjoyed the feeling of things being more like before. Once she changed her name back officially at school she would have no more secrets. She felt what she needed to focus on now was moving on from family's deaths. Amu was not sure if she could do it as just thinking about it was hard but she had her friends and knew that they would help her every step of the way.

They arrived at the hospital and went straight up to Nagehiko's room. The group was mildly surprised to see Tadase looking deep in thought next to Nagehiko's bed. "Hey guys!" Nagehiko cheerfully greeted them, pulling Tadase out of his thoughts to look at who had just entered the room. Kanoko stayed outside the room to let the friends talk in peace, closing the door behind them. The group all greeted Nagehiko a little more subdued an awkward feeling in the air. Amu couldn't bring herself to look into Tadase's eyes, not wanting to see any of his anger directed at her.

She jumped slightly as a pale hand held onto hers. Amu's eyes went up to meet Tadase's guilty gaze. "I'm sorry for running out. I was angry that you hid the fact that you were alive but I was so happy to have you back. I wanted to get away before I said something I regretted. I don't want to lose you again though. Friends?" Amu didn't know what to say after Tadase's speech, her emotions choking her up. She pulled him forward into a bone-crushing hug. "Is that a yes then?" Tadase asked sheepishly. Amu laughed and nodded against his shoulder. "Awesome um… I kinda need to breathe Amu." Everyone laughed as Amu released the slightly blue-faced boy.

"I'm so proud of you Amu." Nagehiko input from his bed. When Tadase had come to him earlier to talk to him about what had happened, he was overjoyed that Amu had told everyone. He had helped Tadase sort through his feelings and realize that even though he was upset he needed to appreciate the fact that they had their friend back. The friends spent their time around Nagehiko's bed, talking as if the tragedy had never happened and everything was perfectly normal. Amu appreciated the feeling after having gone through a stressful couple of days.

Kanoko opened the door, interrupting the pleasant atmosphere with a grim expression. "Can we talk for a minute?" Kanoko asked Amu who nodded and went outside to join her. "We finalized the plans for your family's funeral. It's going to be tomorrow in the afternoon. I just want to make sure you feel ready to go." Amu was thankful that she did not have a part in the planning of the funeral. It would have been too hard to have planned how to bury the bodies of her loved ones. Was she ready to attend the funeral? Could she say goodbye to her beloved parents and little sister and move on with her life?

"Can my friends come?" Amu asked weakly. She knew that the only chance she had of making it through the funeral without having a certain breakdown was if she had her friends there with her. "Of course! Anyone you want to be there can come. We have already sent out invitations to family and friends of the family." Kanoko hugged Amu knowing it was hard for the girl to think of having to lay her family to rest. Amu held onto the hug for a while before letting go and reentering the room. Everyone went quiet when she entered and waited for her to tell them what had happened. Amu's thoughts and feelings were all over the place at the moment and she was unsure how to start. "Tomorrow is… We are…. Its my family's funeral."

Everyone remained silent as they patiently waited for their friend to collect her thoughts and continue. "It would mean a lot to me if you all were there. Amu sighed as she finished, glad that she was able to get it all out without her voice breaking. "Of course Amu. We will all be there." Kuukai spoke up and everyone agreed with him. "Thanks you guys. Kuukai could you text Utau to come and ask her to tell Ikuto?" Amu asked having noticed Kuukai and Utau had seemed to have gotten closer and not having her boyfriends mobile number she knew Utau would have it. Utau was her friend as well even though she denied it and Amu wanted her there as well. Kuukai smiled bashfully and pulled out his phone to comply to Amu's request.

The rest of the time the group spent at the hospital was les jovial and one of her friends always had a comforting hand on Amu. Kuukai received a text back from Utau making Kuukai blush. Everyone looked at him with small sly smiles. He told them that Utau was definitely going to be able to make it the next day and hid the phone away quickly after, ignoring the questions of what else the text had said. Once the attention was off him he smiled as he thought of Utau's mention of him being cute and asking him on a date. He decided to reply later away from his curious friends. Kanoko came in and told it was time for her and Amu to go back to the orphanage. Kanoko informed the group of all the details for the funeral and left with a supporting hand on Amu's shoulder.

When they arrived back at the orphanage, dinner had just started. Amu headed straight for the dining area and sat next to Aiko and Anika. Aiko and Anika, having sensed Amu's mood, spent dinner trying to get Amu out of her sad mood and were rewarded occasionally with small smiles or a short giggle. Amu was glad to have friends that didn't force her to talk about anything and just tried to cheer her up. After dinner, Amu pulled them aside and took them to Kanoko who was in her office. "Can you tell them the details for… tomorrow?" Amu asked her. "Of course honey." Kanoko assured her and turned to the two curious girls beside her.

Amu was surprised at the affectionate name but found that she had liked it. She realized that she really cared for Kanoko and even though the circumstances were grave, was happy to have met her. After Kanoko finished telling her two friends all the information Amu gave the surprised but happy Kanoko a tight hug. The three girls said goodnight and headed towards their rooms. "We will be there tomorrow." Anika told Amu once they had to go their separate ways. Amu thanked them and they all exchanged hugs before heading off to bed. Amu kept her mind off of the funeral by thinking about the day and how she had gotten her friends back.

The next morning Amu didn't feel like getting up. If she got up then she would have to get ready and go head down to the church where everything would suddenly become more real. There was someone knocking on her door but Amu didn't acknowledge them. "Amu? I'm coming in?" The voice was muffled but she knew it was Kanoko. Amu had her back to the door but Kanoko sensed the girl was already awake. Amu felt the bed dip slightly as Kanoko sat down and a warm hand was placed on her back. "We need to get you ready. I got you some clothes to wear." Kanoko told the quiet girl.

Amu didn't respond but was comforted by Kanoko's gentle rubbing of her back. Kanoko remained quiet, wanting to give Amu sine time to get herself together. Soon Amu turned around and looked up at Kanoko, giving her a quiet greeting. It wasn't a great start but Kanoko knew that Amu was ready to at least get up and get ready. "The clothes are in the bathroom for you. Everyone else is already at school except Aiko and Anika who are waiting downstairs." Kanoko explained. She gave Amu a hug and left to let Amu get ready.

Amu dragged herself out of bed and went through her morning ritual, wearing the simple black skirt and dress shirt Kanoko had bought her. Just as she went to leave she cast one last look around her room to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything. Her eyes caught on her three eggs sitting on the dresser. In a last minute decision Amu grabbed a small shoulder bag and placed her chara eggs inside. Amu dropped her hand into the bag and stroked the eggs.

The familiar feel and the presence of the eggs helped to soothe Amu. Even if her chara's were trapped inside their eggs, she was happy for them being with her. Finally Amu felt she was as ready as she was ever going to be and made her way down to her waiting friends. When she made it outside Aiko and Anika grabbed her hands and gave Amu comforting smiles. Amu took a deep breath to keep her emotions back and gave them a thankful squeeze to their connected hands. Kanoko motioned for the girls to enter the vehicle she was leaning against to take them to where the funeral was being held.

The three girls all piled into the back, Amu sitting in the middle. Neither Aiko nor Anika wanting to leave Amu's side. The drive to the church was short with no one speaking a word. Kanoko opened the door for the three girls to get out and gave Amu a quick but tight hug as she exited the car. All of Amu's friends were already there and waiting for her. They each gave Amu a tight hug in greeting. The chara's floating around everyone made her drop her hand into her bag once more and stroke her trapped chara's eggs. Amu began to panic slightly, the solemn atmosphere slowly suffocating her. She wasn't ready to say goodbye, the eggs were not working in calming her this time. All she wanted to do was make a run for it and hide away. As if reading her thoughts a firm hand landed on her shoulder.

Amu jumped slightly, turning to see who had startled her. Deep, blue eyes gazed back at her. "Hey." Ikuto greeted softly and pulled Amu into his chest. Amu took a deep calming breath. Ikuto's scent invading her nose and calming her from her sudden panic. "You okay?" He whispered into her ear. Was she okay? Amu thought of what was about to happen and definitely did not feel okay. She then thought of all her friends who were there to help her get through it. Finally she thought of the boy whose arms held her snuggly and her heart picked up slightly. With everyone there Amu guessed that she was as okay as anyone could be in this situation.

She answered Ikuto with a timid nod. Amu turned to face everyone, Ikuto keeping one arm wrapped securely around her waist. "Are you allowed to be out of the hospital?" Ikuto directed towards Nagehiko who was sitting in a wheelchair. Amu who was glad that Ikuto was not only breaking the silence but also trying to distract her from her thoughts looked over at her friend. "I got special permission as long as I take it easy." He replied. The group kept up the idle, mindless chatter all working to keep Amu from getting too far into her thoughts. The conversation dropped off as Kanoko approached them, telling them it was time for the service to begin. They followed Kanoko inside the church and were directed into the front row.

Amu saw the friends of the family and the relatives which she had never really known gathered in the rows behind her, shooting her sympathetic stares. Amu quickly turned her attention away, not caring for the sympathy of people she did not know. Once seated Amu dared to look at the coffins in front. The three dark wooded coffins were ahead of her. The smallest coffin was between the two larger coffins, a large framed photo of each family member above their respective coffins. The sight was nearly enough to unravel her. Here she was with the proof in front of her eyes. Her family was truly gone and never coming back.

Amu must have made a sign of distress as several hands reached out to comfort her. Amu closed her eyes for a moment to remember that she needed to get through this and move on, the hands comforting her allowing this thought to come more easily as she would not have to do it alone. Amu barely heard as the service progressed, sometimes catching a word or two as people spoke of her family. She declined giving a speech; anything she would have to say did not need to be said in front of an audience. Once it was over everyone headed to their cars to make their way to the grounds where the coffins would be buried.

Standing in front of the freshly dug holes, her friends surrounding her it finally sunk in that it was now or never for her to say her final goodbyes. She was ready now, to say what she needed to say without everyone listening into her private moment. All eyes were on her as Amu went to each coffin and put her forehead to each one. She whispered her love and fond memories for each of her loved ones. She looked back to see all her dear friends and boyfriend smiling encouragingly back at her, most likely realizing it was good for Amu to say her goodbyes privately. "I think it'll be okay though. I know your going to be watching me, so I will get through this and live enough for all of us." She finished and stepped back to let the coffins be lowered.

As the soil was being put on the coffin the people began to leave. The only people standing completely still were Amu and her friends. "I'll let you have some time to yourselves. I'll be waiting for you guys at the car." Kanoko told her three charges and left them to be together. They all remained where they were silently, waiting to see if Amu was ready to talk or not. "Thank you guys. I couldn't have gone through this without you all." Amu said after moment of watching the graves slowly being filled up. "Of course Amu! We all love you!" Yaya piped up prompting everyone to nod in agreement.

"Are you going to be okay?" Tadase asked, concerned for his friends emotional and mental wellbeing. "I know that I'm not going to get over this immediately. But I know that I need to move on with my life. If you guys are ready to be patient with me I can definitely get through this." Amu told her friends truthfully. "We love you Amu. Through thick and thin we'll stay with you." Utau told her. Coming from Utau who had never admitted to being friends with her made Amu's heart swell with love for her friends. "That's the spirit!" A muffled voice cried out. The group looked around confused before three tiny figures suddenly burst out of Amu's side bag.

"Ran, Miki, Suu!" Amu shouted out and pulled her chara's into a hug. "I missed you guys so much!" Amu held on tightly, scared that she was just imagining her chara's there. "We missed you too Amu! We're glad your feeling better now!" Miki replied to Amu from within her embrace. Her chara's were bombarded by everyone else's chara's as they were welcomed back. Ikuto wrapped his arm around Amu's shoulder giving her a happy kiss on her cheek. Amu blushed and watched her group of friends all talking together. A feeling of contentment swept through Amu. Everything in life was starting to look up for her. Her chara's were back, he had a loving boyfriend and she had the best friends that anyone could ever ask for. Life was definitely going to get better from now on.

**The end  
Thoughts? comments? Love it? Hate it? Reviews are candy :)**


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